Russia is upgrading some of its Sukhoi Su-33 carrier fighter, specifically, those airframes that have sufficient lifetime remaining, so as to keep them operational until 2025, as per Major General Igor Kozhin, chief for aviation with the Russian Navy.

The Russian Navy was provided with 30 Su-33s before their production was terminated in 1999. Of the 30, 20 have undergone the “first phase” of the modernization at the Sukhoi manufacturing plant in Komsomolsk-upon-Amur, and Aircraft Repair Plant no. 20 in Pushkino.

While the first upgrade consists of satellite-aided navigation, a new radar warning receiver, and the SVP-24-33 computing system for accurate strikes with free-fall bombs, the second upgrade will extend the Su-33’s arsenal through the addition of precision-guided munitions.

The Su-33 was not only “too big” for comfortable mass-operation on Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov carrier but lacked the full range of payload delivery features necessary to fulfill its purpose.

It was conceived in the later stages of the Cold War when Soviets planned to counter vast Eurasian frontiers and compete with (North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) carrier strike groups.

The decision to develop a twin-engine, two-seat, multirole fighter aircraft for all-weather, air-to-air, and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions, basically a carrier-based variant of Su-27 Flanker which was rebranded as Su-33, was made in the 1970s.

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