Mikail Petrovich Simonov, legendary Russian aircraft designer and father of the Sukhoi Su-27 died on Friday at age of 81.
Mikail Simonov joined the Sukhoi design bureau as a deputy chief designer in 1970. During the following years he led the development of the Su-24 that was introduced in 1974.
The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO callsign: Fencer) is a twin-engined two-seat bomber with variable-sweep wing that carried the USSR’s first integrated digital nav/attack system. Approximately 1400 have been built and many of them still remain in service today with Russia and foreign export customers like Algeria, Iran, Syria and Ukraine.
In 1976, Simonov became chief designer of the legendary Su-27. The Sukhoi Su-27 (NATO callsign: Flanker) is a one-seat Mach-2 class jet fighter. It was intended as a direct competitor for the US fourth generation fighters like F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon or F-14 Tomcat. The Su-27 features a long 3530 km range, heavy armament, sophisticated avionics and high maneuverability. The Su-27 most often flies air superiority missions, but is able to perform almost all combat operations. The Su-27’s basic design is similar to the MiG-29, but it is substantially larger. It is a very large aircraft, and to minimize its weight its structure has a high percentage of titanium (about 30%, more than any of its contemporaries).
The Su-27 had the Soviet Union’s first operational fly-by-wire control system. Combined with relatively low wing loading and powerful basic flight controls, it makes for an exceptionally agile aircraft, controllable even at very low speeds and high angles of attack. In airshows the aircraft has demonstrated its maneuverability with a Cobra (Pugachev’s Cobra) or dynamic deceleration – briefly sustained level flight at a 120° angle of attack. Thrust vectoring has also been tested (and is incorporated on later Su-30MK and Su-37 models), allowing the fighter to perform hard turns with almost no radius, incorporate vertical somersaults into level motion and limited nose-up hovering.
The Su-27 is still in production and operated by many countries like Russia, China and Ukraine. Over the years it has seen many modifications and new variants to keep it up-to-date with current technologie.
1983 Simonov became General Designer of Sukhoi and led development of Su-30, Su-33, Su-34, Su-26, Su-29 and Su-31.
After serving as deputy minister of aircraft industries in 1979-1983, he was named the top Sukhoi designer and continued work on the Su-27. In the late 80’s, early 90’s, Petrovich played a critical role in winning lucrative export deals for Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30.
Mikhail Pogosyan Aslanovich, president of the UAC, General Director of Sukhoi and MiG said: “The death of Mikhail Petrovich Simonov is a big loss. He was a legend of Russian aviation. He was a man who had a vision and knew how to take risks for future success. Combat aircraft created under his leadership identified for many years the face of Russian military aviation and brought him to a leading position in the world. Mikhail Petrovich retained a unique school of Sukhoi, the strongest engineering school in the country, which is now entering new frontiers to create a modern aircraft”.
Simonov was awarded the Hero of Russia medal in 1999, the Lenin and two state prizes, was doctor of technical sciences and member of the Russian Academy of Engineering.
Source: Sukhoi, Wikipedia
Photos: Sukhoi
