El Su-33 ha sido la columna vertebral de la aviación rusa de portaaviones desde finales de la década de 1990 y es un caza “todo tiempo” capaz de atacar objetivos aéreos y de superficie. Basado en el potente Su-27 "Flanker", el Su-33 es una versión navalizada adecuada para operaciones a bordo del portaaviones Almirante Kuznetsov. Entre los cambios introducidos en el Su-33 cabe destacar el refuerzo del tren de aterrizaje, las alas plegables, los motores más potentes y los muy visibles alerones delanteros (“canard”).
El Su-33 está equipado con un potente radar de impulsos doppler y un sensor pasivo de búsqueda y seguimiento por infrarrojos (IRST) para atacar objetivos aéreos con una amplia gama de misiles guiados por radar e infrarrojos y su cañón interno. Para el ataque aire-superficie, el Su-33 puede armarse con muchos tipos de bombas no guiadas, cohetes y municiones de racimo.
Despite its large size, the Su-33 is very capable in a dogfight when combined with its integral helmet-mounted sight and off-boresight missiles.
Key Features:
- Professional Flight Model (PFM).
- Virtual Reality supported.
- Highly accurate and detailed external model and cockpit.
- Wide range of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, including internal cannon.
- Modeling of electronic countermeasures and radar warning receiver.
- Realistic modeling of carrier landing approach system.
- Detailed and accurate simulation of the wing control surfaces that include the leading and trailing edge flaps and the differential ailerons. In addition to the conventional differential stabilizers, canard behavior has also been improved for more realistic behavior. The Flight Control System (FCS) will automatically reconfigure itself depending on the flight mode.
- Includes the wing-fold mechanism, reinforced landing gear struts, and the inclusion of high-gain nose wheel steering for use on crowded carrier decks.
- Correct physics for the arrestor wire and its’ interaction with the aircraft.
- The engines have a "special mode" that adds up to 12,800 kg of thrust (instead of the normal 12,500 kg of thrust). This mode also includes realistic operating time restrictions.
- Includes a special FCS mode used when aerial refueling. When in this mode and the control stick is released, the aircraft will automatically maintain level flight. This FCS mode allows fine-control and thus making it easier to make contact with the tanker within a pitch range of plus or minus 5 degrees and of a roll angle of plus or minus 10 degrees.
- The Auto-Thrust Control (ATC) is used for automatic speed holding and can be fine-tuned with a set speed switch. This can be useful with landing on the carrier.
- Inclusion of the automatic collision avoidance system ("Uvod" mode) that allows safe nap-of-the-earth flying.