Su-25BM
Contents
Description
The Su-25BM 558 ARZ* (unified NATO codename: Frogfoot) is the Belarusian modification of Su-25 done by the JSC "558 Aircraft Repair Plant" (Авиационный ремонтный завод, thus ARZ in its name) in Baranovichi, Belarus for the Kazakh Air Defense Forces; mainly focus on the modernization of cockpit with modern avionics and new ECM equipment for modern battlefield. According to the news in 2016, Kazakhstan seek Belarus for the upgrades of their remaining fleet of Su-25 where the aircrafts would be send to the 558 ARZ for upgrades; these jets were trialed in mid-2017 and were returned for service in Kazakhstan in 2018.
Introduced during Update "La Royale" as a reward for the 2023 Summer Extreme event, Su-25BM featured new avionics in cockpit with new HUD and MFDs replacing most analogue gauges, as well as new PS-25 weapons control system for new weaponries like the infamous R-73 (AA-11 Archer) AAM and all previous air-to-ground ordnances ranging from GP bombs up to TV guided bombs and laser-guided AGMs; further enhancing the overall combat capabilities of the obsolete Frogfoots and leaves it as an alternative to Georgian/Israeli and Russian upgrades.
*Note: the code BM was first used by target-drone tow plane (Buksirovshchik Misheney); but it is likely the abbreviation of Belarus Modernizirovannyi (Belarusian Modernization) in this case.
General info
Flight performance
For long-time players of Su-25(K), they will get in hands with the overall flight performance rather quickly as the Belarusian upgrade didn't include weight reduction; for new players, do not underestimate the airframe of such an attacker. Some players might have a misconception that attackers at jet era is nowhere as durable as their propeller counterparts at their respective tiers and they will be an easy prey for supersonic jets; this is not really the case for Frogfoot. Like its American counterpart, A-10A, Su-25 is famous for its durability against enemy gunfire, sometimes even autocannons or missiles will not be able to take down a Frogfoot in one pass; the R-95SH engine could also push the jet at up to 960 km/h before structural failure in level flights even at high payload, if players used all their A2G ordnances or bring only AAMs in some cases, the straight wing will also make sure it can turn with some heavy jets at its tier thanks to the design; but most of the time, due to the nature of being a subsonic attacker at top tier, enemy jets trend not to have dogfights especially with a Frogfoot even though it is a heavy target. Be sure not to be the first to enter the battlefield as there are high likelihood for multiple enemies coming for the relatively easy prey - you as a Su-25BM.
Characteristics | Max speed (km/h at 1,000 m) |
Max altitude (metres) |
Turn time (seconds) |
Rate of climb (metres/second) |
Take-off run (metres) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AB | RB | AB | RB | AB | RB | |||
Stock | 969 | 962 | 11000 | 27.4 | 28.1 | 67.2 | 63.0 | 850 |
Upgraded | ___ | ___ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ |
Details
Features | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Combat flaps | Take-off flaps | Landing flaps | Air brakes | Arrestor gear | Drogue chute |
✓ | X | ✓ | ✓ | X | ✓ |
Limits | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wings (km/h) | Gear (km/h) | Flaps (km/h) | Max Static G | |||
Combat | Take-off | Landing | + | - | ||
1,100 | 420 | 900 | - | 420 | ~7 | ~3 |
Optimal velocities (km/h) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Ailerons | Rudder | Elevators | Radiator |
< 500 | < 600 | < 700 | - |
Engine performance
Engine | Aircraft mass | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Engine name | Number | Basic mass | Wing loading (full fuel) | |||
_____ | _ | _,___ kg | ___ kg/m2 | |||
Engine characteristics | Mass with fuel (no weapons load) | Max Gross Weight | ||||
Weight (each) | Type | _m fuel | __m fuel | __m fuel | ||
___ kg | ___ | _,___ kg | _,___ kg | _,___ kg | _,___ kg | |
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB/SB) | Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (___%/WEP) | |||||
Condition | 100% | ___%/WEP | _m fuel | __m fuel | __m fuel | MGW |
Stationary | ___ kgf | ___ kgf | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
Optimal | ___ kgf (_ km/h) |
___ kgf (_ km/h) |
_.__ | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ |
Survivability and armour
The Su-25BM's airframe is strong, able to take hits on critical parts of the aircraft and still make it back to base. The Su-25BM has plenty of armour around the cockpit and inside the fuselage, with bulletproof glass being the main protection of the pilot.
256 countermeasures allow the aircraft to avoid IR and radar-guided missiles with ease. This, and the fact that the engines lack any type of afterburner/WEP, makes it hard for enemy missiles to follow the Su-25BM reliably. Only the more advanced missiles are able to get a good lock on the Su-25BM, and even then, manoeuvring after dropping 2 or 4 flares will be more than enough to avoid most of them.
Fuel tanks are self-sealing, which means that in case of any fuel tank fire, the fuel tank will be able to stop the fire most of the time. In case a fire happens inside the engine and not on a fuel tank, the Su-25BM also has EFS as a modification. This modification is capable of extinguishing any fire that's inside an engine, leaving the affected engine inoperable, but saving the airframe from further fire damage.
Modifications and economy
Armaments
Ballistic Computer | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
CCIP (Guns) | CCIP (Rockets) | CCIP (Bombs) | CCRP (Bombs) | Lead indicator |
Offensive armament
The Su-25BM is armed with:
- 1 x 30 mm GSh-30-2 cannon, chin-mounted (250 rpg)
- 256 x countermeasures
Suspended armament
The Su-25BM can be outfitted with the following ordnance:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
23 mm GSh-23L cannons (250 rpg) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
100 kg OFAB-100 bombs | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | |||
250 kg OFAB-250sv bombs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
250 kg OFAB-250Sh bombs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
500 kg FAB-500M-62 bombs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
500 kg FAB-500Sh bombs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
500 kg KAB-500Kr bombs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
ZB-500 incendiary bombs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
S-5K rockets | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | |||
S-8KO rockets | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | |||
S-13OF rockets | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |||
S-24B rockets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
S-25O rockets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
S-25OF rockets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
S-25OFM rockets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
Kh-25 missiles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Kh-25ML missiles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Kh-29L missiles | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Kh-29T missiles | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
R-60MK missiles | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
R-73 missiles | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
S-25L missiles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
800 l drop tanks | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Maximum permissible weight imbalance: 1,500 kg |
Default weapon presets | |
---|---|
|
Usage in battles
The Su-25BM is very effective at its ground attack role, having an extremely wide variety of bombs, rockets and missiles. This particular Su-25 variant has a powerful Ballistic Computer, higher amount of bombs, and the ability to mount 256 S-5K rockets. Durable and powerful, it can defend itself more reliably with the R-73 missiles, which are advanced air-to-air missiles that turn the Su-25BM into a threat for enemy aircraft that try to engage it. However, this plane will have to fly with advanced fighters and ground attack aircraft around, usually facing SARH or ARH missiles, so the pilot must avoid any kind of air-to-air combat and only use its R-73 in self-defense when a fighter is either going or about to engage.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Mounts R-73 missiles, which are extremely effective
- Capable of equipping a large amount of air-to-ground armament
- Powerful chin-mounted GSh-30-2 autocannon
- Access to more advanced, fire and forget A2G ordnances
- Could take additional hits thanks to the well-protected airframe
- Intergraded avionics for better awareness in SB battles
Cons:
- Has a relatively low top speed, capable of ripping its own wings in level flight
- Low ammo count for the 30 mm cannon
- Low manoeuvrability due to the weight and obsolete engine
- Inferior SPO-15 RWR with worse situational awareness to radar sources
History
After the dissolution of the red giant - Soviet Union in 1991, there were abundance of ex-Soviet strategic weapons i.e ICBM, MIRV, nuclear weapons and strategic bombers scattered throughout the ex-socialist republics, one of them was the Kazakhstan which have already quite the Union by October 1990. For Kazakh, they returned the 40 Tu-95MS (13 MS-16 and 27 MS-6 respectively; where 7 of them dismantled in Kazakhstan due to poor condition) of the 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division which stationed at Dolon Airbase to Russia in 1992, as well as the 370 tactical missiles with nuclear warheads; this in turn became a deal between Kazakhstan and Russia that some of the units from the Turkmenistan Military District would be returned to Kazakhstan in 1995, as well as new units including 12 Su-25 and 2 Su-25UB. These 14 aircrafts were assigned to the (602nd) Chimkent Air Base as part of the composition of the newly-born Kazakh ADF.
Due to the aging and already obsolete airframe for future battlefield, there were news that Kazakhstan Aviation Industry and Belarusian JSC "558 Aircraft Repair Plant" have already planned for upgrades for the 12 Kazakh Su-25 by June 2016 where these jets would sent to Baranovichi, Belarus for the upgrades.[1] The upgrades included (based on the details of Bulgarian upgrades):[2]
- SOI-25 intergraded flight display systems w/ILS-31ZhK HUD and two MFI-10 MFDs
- New SNS navigation systems compatible to GPS/GLANOSS
- New digital computer
- PS-25 weapon system for more advanced missiles and better engage altitude
- Satellite-M2 jammer system
- SVR-2T and Tester-U3-2 FDR
These new jets was first tested in mid-2017 in Belarus and first batches the upgraded jets were return to Kazakh ADF by early-2018[3]; all of them are likely to be operational at present. The default delivery represented 02 of the 602nd Airbase stationed at Chimkent while the unlockable delivery represented No.32 of 116th Guards Assault Air Base.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
The Su-25 Frogfoot family
- Su-25 - the baseline Su-25 for Soviet Union.
- Su-25K - Warsaw-Pact downgraded variant of Su-25
- Su-25T - dedicated anti-armor variant of Su-25 with TV targeting systems and upgraded engines
- Su-39 (Su-25TM) - upgrades for the Su-25T with IR jammer and targeting pods for different targets
External links
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- ↑ https://airrecognition.com/index.php/news/defense-aviation-news/global-news-2016/june/2733-kazakhstan-plans-to-upgrade-its-fleet-of-su-25-combat-aircraft.html
- ↑ https://www.key.aero/article/depth-look-bulgarias-modernised-frogfoot-fleet
- ↑ https://defence-blog.com/kazakhstan-receives-refurbed-su-25-ground-attack-aircraft/