Su-25BM

Su-25BM

Su-25BM

USSR

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
11.3	11.3	11.7

Class:

Strike aircraft

Purchase:Bundle or Gift

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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

Air brakes

Allows you to dramatically reduce the flight speed by releasing special flaps

Drogue parachute

Reduces braking distance when landing on any runway

Max speed

at 1 000 m979 km/h

Turn time27 s

Max altitude11 000 m

Engine2 х UMPO R-95SH

TypeJet

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight18 t

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	989	979		26.6	27.0	94.6	80.0

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

Flares/Chaff

Aircraft countermeasures to distract IR and radar-guided missiles and also AA radar

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural0 km/h

Gear420 km/h

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

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB3 340 → 4 893

RB8 135 → 11 917

SB10 778 → 15 789

Total cost of modifications309 600

480 000

Talisman cost3 100

Crew training310 000

Experts1 080 000

Aces3 400

Research Aces1 280 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

80 / 330 / 600 %

250 / 250 / 250 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Compressor Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 New boosters Research: 12 000 Cost: 18 000 520 Engine Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610	Fuselage repair Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 Airframe Research: 12 000 Cost: 18 000 520 Wings repair Research: 13 000 Cost: 20 000 560 Cover Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610	Flares/Chaff Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 GSh-30-2_belt_pack Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 ZB-500 Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 S-8KO Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 Kh-25 Research: 8 800 Cost: 14 000 380 GSh-30-2_new_gun Research: 12 000 Cost: 18 000 520 FAB-250 Research: 12 000 Cost: 18 000 520 S-24 Research: 12 000 Cost: 18 000 520 40px Kh-29L Research: 12 000 Cost: 18 000 520 G-suit Research: 13 000 Cost: 20 000 560 Gun pod SPPU-22-01 Research: 13 000 Cost: 20 000 560 FAB-500 Research: 13 000 Cost: 20 000 560 S-25 Research: 13 000 Cost: 20 000 560 40px Kh-29TE Research: 13 000 Cost: 20 000 560 EFS Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610 ns23_belt_pack Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610 KAB-500Kr Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610 B-13L Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610 R-73 Research: 14 000 Cost: 22 000 610

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

2 x 800 l drop tanks 2 x R-60MK missiles 2 x R-73 missiles 32 x 100 kg OFAB-100 bombs (3,200 kg total) 8 x 250 kg OFAB-250sv bombs (2,000 kg total) 8 x 250 kg OFAB-250Sh bombs (2,000 kg total) 8 x 500 kg FAB-500M-62 bombs (4,000 kg total) 8 x 500 kg FAB-500Sh bombs (4,000 kg total) 4 x 500 kg KAB-500Kr bombs (2,000 kg total) 8 x ZB-500 incendiary bombs 256 x S-5K rockets 160 x S-8KO rockets 40 x S-13OF rockets 8 x S-24B rockets 8 x S-25O rockets 4 x S-25L missiles 4 x Kh-25ML missiles 2 x Kh-29L missiles 2 x Kh-29T missiles 4 x 23 mm GSh-23L cannons (250 rpg = 1,000 total)

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. The upgrades included (based on the details of Bulgarian upgrades):

• 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; 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

Videos

SU-25 BM Review - by Bob Dickinson

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

• [Devblog] Su-25BM 558 ARZ strike jet aircraft

Sukhoi Design Bureau (Сухого Опытное конструкторское бюро)
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