Su-34

The Su-34 is a fighter-bomber featured in both ArmA: Armed Assault and ArmA 2.

ArmA: Armed Assault

Su-34
Faction	SLA
Type	Fighter-Bomber
Seats	2 seats: 1× Pilot 1× Gunner
Item capacity	Max: 3× Weapons 20× Magazines
Top speed	964 km/h
Fuel capacity	1000 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 1× GSh-301 30 mm
Secondary armament	Default Loadout: 4× R-73 AAM 4× S-8T 80 mm Rocket Pods Anti-Tank Loadout: 4× Ch-29 AGM 2× S-8 80 mm Rocket Pods
Variants	Su-34B
Games

The Su-34 is used exclusively by the SLA in ArmA: Armed Assault.

Overview

• Role:
  • Ground attack

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The Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name Fullback) was developed primarily for the strike/attack role to replace the Su-24 Fencer. It is a derivative of the Su-27 Flanker, easily distinguished by its side-by-side cockpit and 'platypus' nose. Library Description

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Design

The Su-34 is a twin-engined, ground attack-oriented plane that uses a swept wing/cropped delta hybrid airframe.

It is based on the Flanker family of air superiority fighter jets, and is one of the most advanced fighter jets in use by the Russian military.

Armament
By default, the Su-34 is armed with a 30 mm cannon that feeds from a single 180-round belt loaded with high-explosive (HE) shells.

Other parts of its default armament suite include four short-ranged, air-to-air missiles and four 80 mm rocket pods with each containing up to 20 rockets fitted with HE warheads (for a total of 80 rockets combined).

A dedicated sub-variant is also available, and exchanges half of its rockets and A2A missiles for four anti-tank missiles instead.

Features
Unlike most conventional fighter jets, the Su-34 uses a unique tandem cockpit layout which houses both of its crew members (the pilot and gunner/weapons operator) who sit side-by-side as opposed to the traditional front-and-back layout used by most other jets in its class.

Fast and powerful, the Su-34 has extremely high manoeuvrability since it uses the same airframe as its air superiority fighter parent, but carries ordnance optimised for attacking ground targets instead.

The Su-34 is deadly against both air and ground targets thanks to its diverse loadout and is arguably better at ground attack duties than the bulkier U.S. AV-8B.

Drawbacks
Although extremely fast, the Su-34 lacks VTOL capability like the AV-8B, which restricts it to taking off and landing on conventional airstrips only. This does limit its flexibility since it can't be operated from any location as the AV-8B is able to.

Crew Capacity
The Su-34 contains two seats for the pilot and weapons operator, who sits in tandem alongside the pilot in the cockpit. It is unable to transport any additional crewmen or passengers.

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Variants

• Su-34B

Dedicated anti-vehicle variant.

Unlike the default Su-34's loadout, this variant is outfitted with two less rocket pods (lowering its total rocket count to only 40) and carries four anti-tank missiles instead.

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Protection

Both variants of the Su-34 have base armour values of 60.

Hull

The Su-34's hull can survive up to 60 points of damage before its integrity fails.

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Armament

The gunner controls all four weapon systems on the Su-34 (regardless of loadout):

GSh-301

Base damage value	Initial velocity (m/s)
55	820

30 mm autocannon. Fires HE shells that are useful for Within Visual Range (WVR) dogfights.

It can attain a fire rate of up to ~ 1,500 rounds per minute and has a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. The shells have a blast radius of just 1 metre.

R-73

NOTE: Only available on the baseline Su-34 variant.

Damage type	Base damage value	Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive	50	2,000

Short range infrared-guided air-to-air missile.

R-73 missiles are soft launched and require 10 seconds to reach a top in-flight speed of 2,000 m/s. There is always an imposed firing delay of 1 second in-between launches. The warhead has a blast radius of 7 metres.

S-8T

Damage type	Base damage value	Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive	430	1,600

Unguided air-to-ground rockets. Strong against infantry and unarmoured/lightly-armoured ground vehicles.

Rockets are soft launched and require 0.2 seconds to reach a top speed of 1,600 m/s in-flight. The warheads have a blast radius of 5 metres.

Ch-29

NOTE: Only available on the Su-34B variant.

Damage type	Base damage value
High-Explosive Anti-Tank	900

Air-to-ground anti-tank missiles.

Ch-29 AGMs utilise infrared guidance for lock-ons. Missiles are soft launched and require 1 second to reach a top in-flight speed of 500 m/s. The warheads have a blast radius of just 1 metre.

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Trivia

• Both variants of the Su-34 were not initially available in Armed Assault and were only added after the release of Patch 1.04.
• Prior to Patch 1.06, its landing lights would not render correctly whenever its gears were lowered.
• Its appearance in Armed Assault is highly anachronistic as full-rate production for the Russian Air Force was not approved until 2008, let alone for export sales.

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Gallery

ArmA 2

Su-34
Faction	Russian Armed Forces
Type	Fighter-Bomber
Seats	2 seats: 1× Pilot 1× Gunner
Item capacity	Max: 3× Weapons 20× Magazines
Top speed	~ 974 km/h
Fuel capacity	1000 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 1× GSh-30-1 30 mm 6× Ch-29 AGM 2× S-8T 80 mm Rocket Pods
Secondary armament	Secondary: 4× R-73 AAM Defensive: 120× Countermeasures (Flare/Chaff)
Variants	None
Games

The Su-34 is used exclusively by the Russian Armed Forces in ArmA 2.

Overview

• Role:
  • Ground attack

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The Su-34 (NATO reporting name: Fullback) is a Russian-made two-seat fighter-bomber and strike aircraft. As with many modern bombers the pilots sit side by side. The Su-34 is equipped with GSh-30-1 30 mm cannon, six Kh-29 air-to-surface missile systems, four AA-11air-to-air missile platforms, and two S8 air-to-surface missile platforms. Armoury Description

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Design

Like its previous incarnation in Armed Assault, the ArmA 2 Su-34 remains as a highly manoeuvrable fighter-bomber that can serve as both a rudimentary ASF and ground attack jet.

Armament
By default, the Su-34 is armed with a 30 mm cannon that feeds from a single 180-round linked belt of high-explosive (HE) shells.

It is also armed with twin 80 mm rocket pods mounted onto pylons on each wing, as well as air-to-ground anti-tank missiles/short-range, infrared-guided air-to-air missiles.

Each rocket pod contains up to 20 rockets that are fitted with HE warheads, while each wing also carries 3 Ch-29 AGMs and 2 R-73 AAMs (for a combined total of 6 AGMs and 4 AAMs altogether).

Providing CAS for ground forces over the skies of Takistan.

Features
The ArmA 2 Su-34 is fairly agile and can easily outmanoeuvre the AV-8B flown by the U.S. Marines. Though it no longer has access to a dedicated anti-tank variant, the ArmA 2 Su-34 has a more balanced loadout that allows it to attack both air and ground threats at the same time.

Notable Traits
The Su-34 is noteworthy for being the only fixed-wing jet in ArmA 2 that has four AAMs as part of its default armament. While these missiles are only IR-guided and short-ranged like the AIM-9s carried by the USMC's AV-8B/F-35B, the Su-34 still has two more missiles ready to fire at once which allows it to serve as a rudimentary ASF if necessary.

Combined with its existing multi-role capabilities and decent agility; not to mention the lack of a proper radar stealth mechanic being modelled in ArmA 2, the Su-34 far outclasses both of its USMC counterparts in almost every aspect, with perhaps only the Czech L-159 being able to match the Su-34 (and even then, not directly).

Drawbacks
Just like in Armed Assault, the ArmA 2 Su-34 lacks VTOL capability and is limited to take offs/landings from hard-surface runways only, which greatly hampers its flexibility as it can't operate from any location like the AV-8B is capable of doing.

The Su-34 also does not have access to any laser-guided or unguided iron bombs as well (a problem shared with the Su-39). This means that it can only resort to rocket fire to bombard structures or unarmoured/clumped up ground targets. Lastly, unlike the F-35B, it tends to stall when making hard turns which will come cost at some speed.

Crew Capacity
The Su-34 contains two seats for the pilot and weapons operator, who sits in tandem alongside the pilot in the cockpit. It is unable to transport any additional crewmen or passengers.

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Protection

The Su-34 has a base armour value of 60.

Hull

Su-34s can withstand up to 60 points of damage. Will result in a total loss if its integrity fails.

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Armament

The gunner controls all wing-mounted ordnance, while the pilot handles the forward-facing GSh-30-1 30 mm cannon:

GSh-30-1

Base damage value	Aerodynamic friction	Initial velocity (m/s)
55	-0.00095	820

30 mm autocannon. Fires HE shells useful for providing direct air-to-ground fire support against infantry and unarmoured/lightly-armoured vehicles.

It can attain a fire rate of up to ~ 1,500 RPM and has a muzzle velocity of 820 m/s. It has a dispersion spread of 0.0006 rad at distances of up to 1,250 metres away. The shells have a blast radius of only 1 metre.

Ch-29

Damage type	Base damage value	Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive Anti-Tank	4,000	805

Air-to-ground anti-tank missiles. Can utilise either infrared or laser-guidance.

Ch-29s are soft launched and take 2 seconds to reach a top speed of 805 m/s in mid-flight. The warheads have a blast radius of 9 metres.

S-8T

Damage type	Base damage value	Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive	210	610

Unguided air-to-ground rockets. Fires HE rockets that are strong against infantry and medium armoured vehicles (not heavy armour).

The pods have a delay of 0.08 seconds in-between launches (~ 750 RPM) and are always fired in pairs. The rockets are launched with an initial velocity of 44 m/s and take 1.1 additional seconds to reach a top speed of 470 m/s in-flight. The rocket warheads themselves have a blast radius of 5 metres.

R-73

Damage type	Base damage value	Maximum speed (m/s)
High-Explosive	160	828

Infrared-guided short range air-to-air missile. Has a maximum lock-on range of 10,000 metres.

R-73s are soft launched but have an imposed delay of 1 second in-between launches. It takes 5 seconds for the missile motors to fully reach a top speed of 828 m/s. The warheads have a blast radius of 9 metres.

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Avionics

MAWS

The Su-34 possesses an integrated Missile Approach Warning System. The pilot will be warned whenever there are incoming missiles.

RWR

The Su-34 has a Radar Warning Receiver and will alert the pilot when they are being locked onto by radar-based targeting systems.

IWR

The Su-34 has an Infrared Warning Receiver. It will warn the pilot whenever they are being targeted by infrared-based weapon systems.

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Trivia

• The Su-34 was one of the few aircraft from the original ArmA 2 that was "upgraded" with the ability to launch anti-missile countermeasures with the release of the Operation Arrowhead expansion pack.
• Prior to the latest Steam version patches (as part of the Community Configuration Project/CorePatch updates), the GSh-30-1 was strangely handled by the gunner position. Gameplay-wise, this made little sense as the GSh-30-1 is a forward-facing weapon, and the gunner was unable to control the aircraft's heading.
  • As such, aiming precisely with the cannon was near-impossible to do, while the pilot had to rely on the gunner to fire simultaneously at the right opportunity. Altogether, this rendered the GSh-30-1 virtually useless in regular gameplay even with good communications between both crewmen.
  • It was eventually refactored so that the pilot controlled the GSh-30-1, while the gunner retained exclusive access to the Su-34's pylons.
• While the Su-34 was rumoured to have seen its first trial by fire during the 2008 South Ossetia conflict, its appearance in ArmA 2 is still anachronistic as it would not enter actual service with the Russian Air Force until 2014 (five years after the events of Harvest Red).

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Gallery

External links

• Wikipedia: Sukhoi Su-34

See also

Aircraft of comparable role and configuration

• F-35 Lightning II (Alternate USMC counterpart)
• To-201 Shikra (CSAT successor, ArmA 3: Jets only)

SLA - Vehicles (ArmA: Armed Assault)
Wheeled	BRDM-2 • TT650G • UAZ* • Ural*
Tracked	BMP-2 • Shilka • T-72
Rotor-wing	KA-50 • Mi17
Fixed-wing	Camel • Su-34
Aquatic	PBX Boat
(Parenthesis) denote variants. * denotes vehicles also used by the Resistance sub-faction.