GlobalConflictहिंदी's video: Baby Sukhoi Aircraft History

Many people get shocked upon realizing how big modern fighter jets actually are. The length of the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker is almost 22 meters (72 ft) – just slightly shorter than the fuselage of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, the iconic strategic bomber from WWII. Some of the newer variants based on the Su-27 – such as carrier-based Su-33 or ground attack Su-34 – are even larger. To be fair, the Su-27 is one of the biggest 4th generation fighter jets, and the majority of its analogues – such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle – are somewhat smaller. Nevertheless, despite being such a beast of a plane, the Flanker still became one of the most mass-produced combat aircraft of its generation. In many of the world's largest air forces – such as the Indian Air Force and People's Liberation Army Air Force of China – derivatives of the Su-27 still constitute a significant part of the fighter fleet. But among its many variants, derivatives and spin-offs, there was one crazier than the others. That was the S-54 and its two variants – S-55 and S-56, designed by Sukhoi in the early 90s as a proposal for a trainer, a light fighter jet, and carrier-based aircraft respectively. And the main idea of those proposals was shrinking the massive Su-27 until it becomes the smallest fighter jet in the world. The inciting incident to create such aircraft came in April 1990, when the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Force issued a request for the design of a new advanced jet trainer. Before that, Soviet fighter pilots were mainly training on Czechoslovakian Aero L-29s and L-39s. By the late 80s the jets started showing their age, and were not sufficient to serve as the last steps before transitioning onto advanced 4th generation fighter jets. Something faster, more manoeuvrable and more powerful was needed. Initially, the request for a new trainer was addressed at Mikoyan design bureau, whose MiG-29 was a successful light counterpart to the heavy Su-27. But in 1991 other bureaus – Myasischev, Yakovlev and Sukhoi – were attached. Each of them offered a project of an advanced trainer. In 1993 Yakovlev was selected as the winner. Its proposal (after heavy modification, cooperation with Italian Aermacchi and a further decade of development) eventually became the Yak-130, Russian Air Force’s current jet trainer aircraft. But Sukhoi’s and Mikoyan’s proposals did not compete with it. They were rejected right away, in 1992, supposedly – for not meeting the requirements of the contest.