The Sukhoi Shkval (Russian Сухой Шквал, English

Squall A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed lasting minutes, as opposed to a wind gust, which lasts for only seconds. They are usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to the ...

) was a Soviet project for an

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Vehicles * Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft * Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car * ...

in the

tail-sitter A tail-sitter, or tailsitter, is a type of VTOL aircraft that takes off and lands on its tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Originating in the 1920s with the inventor Nikola Tesla, the first aircraft to adopt a tail-sitter configur ...

design.

History

In 1960, the young designer Rolan G. Martirossov (who later became chief designer) began his initiative with a team of 10 people, designing an aircraft of an entirely new class - a single-seater, highly capable

Tail-sitter A tail-sitter, or tailsitter, is a type of VTOL aircraft that takes off and lands on its tail, then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Originating in the 1920s with the inventor Nikola Tesla, the first aircraft to adopt a tail-sitter configur ...

for intercepting hunting. Soon the team got permission to work on the project in his spare time, and the project got the name Shkval-1 ( quall-1)._At_the_same_time,_Yakovlev_worked_at_the_Yak-36.html" ;"title="Yakovlev.html" ;"title="quall-1). At the same time, Yakovlev">quall-1). At the same time, Yakovlev worked at the Yak-36">Yakovlev.html" ;"title="quall-1). At the same time, Yakovlev">quall-1). At the same time, Yakovlev worked at the Yak-36 and Hawker Siddeley at the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, Harrier. Both designs were equipped with a conventional Landing gear. The Shkval, however, such as the

Lockheed XFV The Lockheed XFV (sometimes referred to as the "Salmon") was an American experimental tailsitter prototype aircraft built by Lockheed in the early 1950s to demonstrate the operation of a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter for protect ...

-1, should land on the stern and start on it and therefore require only a tiny space. After the concept was drawn up and wind tunnel tests were made in the

TsAGI The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (also (Zhukovsky) Central Institute of Aerodynamics, russian: Центра́льный аэрогидродинами́ческий институ́т, ЦАГИ, Tsentral'nyy Aerogidrodinamicheskiy Institut, ...

, the team of

Pavel Sukhoi Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi (russian: Па́вел О́сипович Сухо́й; be, Па́вел Во́сіпавіч Сухі́, ''Paviel Vosipavič Suchi''; 2 July 1895 – 15 September 1975) was a Soviet aerospace engineer and aircraft design ...

received the official confirmation for this project. This enabled funding by the state authorities and access to various experimental facilities. A partial mockup was built. In August 1963, the Ministry of Aircraft Engineering carried out a project assessment. There were heated discussions during the meeting in which the project group could not answer all the Commission's questions; Therefore, the achievements of the design team were recognized, but the financing for the construction of a prototype was denied. Another reason was the military doctrine based on the views of the new Soviet head of government,

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

, to increasingly rely on rockets as attack and defence weapons and to reduce expenditures significantly on military aircraft construction.

Design and development

The Sukhoi Shkval was designed as a two-engined interceptor with radar, two built-in aircraft guns and side-by-side afterburner engines. Two designs were investigated in the wind tunnel. These differed only in the form of the air intakes and the position of the canards. The first version with D-shaped air intakes, comparable to the

Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace t ...

, and canards in front of the cockpit, which extend to the

radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna e ...

, could not get through. The second concept with rectangular ramp air inlets (comparable to the air inlets of the

MiG-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-25; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by th ...

) and canards at the upper side edge of the air inlets got the advantage. The hull itself is similar to the fuselage of the Su-15 without landing gear, wing, fin and brake flaps. The four wings were fixed at the corners of the fuselage as a reclining X (comparable to the fictional

X-wing fighter The X-wing starfighter is a name applied to a family of fictional spacecraft manufactured by the Incom Corporation from the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Named for the distinctive shape made when its s-foils (wings) are in attack position, the X-win ...

from Star Wars). On the four wings end were cylindrical containers, which contained shock absorbers for take-off and landing in the lower part. The remaining part of these cylindrical containers were kerosene tanks, as in wings and the fuselage. The containers were externally provided with a guide plate to continue the wing. Each wing has a rudder that functions as a rudder and aileron. In order to facilitate the vertical landing, the entire

Ejection seat In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the pilot or other crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an explosive charge or rock ...

as well as the

Thrust lever Thrust levers or throttle levers are found in the cockpit of aircraft, and are used by the pilot, copilot, or autopilot to control the thrust output of the aircraft's engines, by controlling the fuel flow to those engines. In multi-engine air ...

and the

Side-stick __NOTOC__ A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat flightdeck. Typically this is found in aircraft that are equ ...

were pivotally mounted in the cockpit in such a way that the ratio of the ejection seat to these control elements remained unchanged regardless of the pivoting position. The swivel device gave the pilot a better view of the ground/landing zone by a window on the cockpit floor. A cockpit section of the Sukhoi Shkval was built with the window in the ground and the swivel seat/instrument combination, with which this function could be tested and demonstrated, which happened several times. A two-axle trailer was also planned for the transport and erection of the Sukhoi Shkval.

References

*Yefim Gordon, Sergey Komissarov Unflown Wings Soviet/Russian unrealised aircraft projects 1925–2010 Ian Allan Publishing Pages 444–446 *Yefim Gordon, Sergey Komissarov OKB Sukhoi A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft Ian Allan Publishing Pages 515–518 *Tony Buttler, Yefim Gordon Soviet Secret Projects Fighters Since 1945

External links

Image with wind tunnel models of the two layouts Two-sided viewDrawing Shkval in horizontal flight Drawing Shkval hovering
{{Sukhoi aircraft Sukhoi Shkval Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union Twinjets Tailsitter aircraft

History

Design and development

See also

References

External links