Key Points – The Soviet/Russian Su-25 “Frogfoot,” nicknamed the “flying tank,” is a close air support aircraft designed with an emphasis on survivability.
-Its rugged construction includes a titanium bathtub cockpit for pilot protection and separated twin engines with firewalls, allowing it to withstand significant battle damage, including the loss of one engine, and still return to base.
-While its electronics were historically less advanced than Western counterparts like the A-10, the Su-25’s core mission is to suppress enemy ground positions for advancing friendly forces.
-Its durability and simple design contributed to high operational availability, proven extensively in conflicts like the Soviet-Afghan War.
Inside the Su-25: How Its Rugged Design Keeps It Flying After Taking Hits
The first chance I ever had to see a Su-25 up close was also one of the very first times the airframe was ever shown at an international exposition. It seems like a small matter today, but it was 1989, and the Cold War was still on—albeit winding down.
Thanks to my ability to speak Russian, it was possible to get past the steel barricades designed to keep crowds back away from the aircraft at the Le Bourget aerodrome outside of Paris and walk right up to the aircraft. Putting hands on the aircraft’s fuselage, it was easy to understand the publicity that had been turned out in Soviet newspapers in the weeks leading up to the air show.
With the news that the Su-25 would be unveiled to Western audiences for the first time, articles in the major military papers like the main Soviet Army daily, Красная Звезда (Red Star), began calling the aircraft “the flying tank.”
Once you examined the aircraft, it was easy to see why that nickname had been chosen. Most of the aircraft was composed of conventional metal alloys common to Soviet designs of that day.
Survivability
The cockpit was placed inside what could only be described as a titanium bathtub. The Soviet Union back then and Russia today have a well-deserved reputation for being able to source, process, and manufacture aircraft-grade titanium to a level of strength and protection against ballistic rounds that Western nations could not at the time.
The aircraft was designed to be a close-air support platform in a way more like an attack helicopter might be constructed rather than a conventional fighter. Besides shielding the pilot in titanium, the aircraft designers had spent no small amount of effort concentrating on the crew’s survivability.
One of those design features was to ensure that a pilot could suffer a hit to one of the aircraft’s two Soyuz/Tumansky R-195 engines and that the aircraft would still keep flying without any serious damage to the airframe.
The engines, mounted under the wing and adjacent to the fuselage, were separated from the aircraft not only by the titanium used in the forward section but also by an asbestos firewall between the engine and fuselage.
Russian pilots who spoke to me over the years told of multiple times that a Su-25 would suffer a hit in one engine from a man-portable (MANPADS) air-to-surface missile, but the aircraft would keep on flying due to this shielding that protected the fuselage from the engine exploding.
One of the aspects of the aircraft’s redundancy is that even with one engine out, it has enough power from the remaining engine to maintain altitude and return to base. Losing one engine does not greatly degrade its performance and maneuverability.
The Su-25’s operational history is replete with examples of the aircraft’s ability to glide and land safely with one engine out.
Su-25: Keeps On Ticking
The Su-25 is like the old Timex watch advert stating, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” It has proven to be remarkedly durable, and the simplicity of its design makes it easy to maintain high availability rates. During the Afghan War, Su-25 aircraft began flying missions as far as Kabul but with pilots flying an average of 4–5, sometimes as many as 8, sorties per day.
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The aircraft typically flew with external fuel tanks to increase its range but was barred from flying in poor weather conditions or nighttime due to faulty navigational equipment.
The electronics in this aircraft are markedly inferior to those of the United States A-10, which the Su-25 is often compared to. The comparison, said a former pilot who spoke with me, is also a bit misleading.
“The Su-25 – the people who designed it openly call it a ‘Flying Tank’ and that is the strong point of its mission. It is able to rain fire down on the enemy ground positions and keep their heads down while its own infantry and armor advance forward,” he described.
“On the other hand, the A-10 is a real tank killer. It is the big GAU-8/A gun on the aircraft that fires the depleted uranium rounds that is the aircraft’s hallmark. Both aircraft are street-fighting killing machines, but their designs are distinctly different.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
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