MOSCOW, June 21 (AVN) - The Ulan-Ude aircraft plant is about to complete a SU-25TM Frogfoot attack plane, while another plane of this type will be ready by the end of the year, Vladimir Babak, chief constructor of the Shturmoviki Sukhogo consortium, said on Thursday.
The plant has been constructing the two planes since 1998, Babak told the Military News Agency.
The ongoing SU-25TM state tests are to be completed in 2002, he said. The Ulan-Ude plant is fully ready to launch serial production of the plane, but the Defence Ministry does not have enough funds to purchase it for the Russian Air Force.
The SU-25TM attack plane is the latest and most perfect modification of SU-25, Babak noted. Its on-board equipment includes the SUV-25TM Voskhod sighting and navigation system with two Orbita-20 computers, which is intended for navigation and fire control, as well as the I-251M Shkval-M optic-electronic sighting station. It produces images on a television indicator.
The Kopyo-25 radar sighting system allows to detect aerial targets at ranges of up to 57km if they are moving on collision courses and up to 25km if they are moving on overhauling courses. It allows to guide up to 10 aerial targets and fire at two of them simultaneously. The system is located in a suspended container.