Scientists at Britain’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down have reportedly gained enough information about the targeting system of the Su-35 that was shot down on April 3 to mean that engineers are able to piece together something tangible about the inner workings of some high-tech components. technology.
The aircraft in question was reported to be on a Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) mission, but fell victim to Ukrainian surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
More specifically, the components and technologies a hostile state is interested in will determine whether it can successfully recover and analyze a jet fighter. Most microelectronics and circuit boards inside avionics, mission computer, electronic warfare (EW), radar, flight control system (FCS) and possibly data links burn out completely due to their sensitive construction.
These have millions of lines of software code that are nearly impossible to recreate unless plugged into the manufacturer’s system.
Extracting information from Russian air-to-surface weapons
A system like the long-range targeting system on the previous downed Su-35 would find British and American scientists piecing together the jet’s fusion optics and sensor capabilities. They are also likely to be able to glean information about Russian air-to-surface weapons and how and how they are used.
As highly advanced and experienced aerospace forces that have mastered all vital aviation technologies, American and British engineers are unlikely to attempt to understand the design secrets of the Su-35 aircraft.
Ukraine uses the Su-27 on which the Su-35 is based, and as it is politically close to the US on its issues with Russia, it is hard not to imagine that the Ukrainian air force had already allowed US pilots access on the aircraft.
If not, the Americans must have gleaned at least theoretical knowledge of how the aircraft flies from the Ukrainians and made an educated guess about the tactics used by the Russian pilots. They have practiced with their own Indian Air Force (IAF) Su-30 in engagements such as Cope India and Red Flag, knowing well the maneuverability of the Sukhoi series and the Russian air combat philosophy.
Nor are they likely to study and rebuild the Su-35’s engine, the Saturn AL-117S, being part of the quartet of countries that, along with Russia and France, have complete self-sufficiency in the specialized area of aero-engines.
China’s attempts to steal technology from Russia
In contrast, China has struggled to reverse the Russian engines, given their incredibly complex nature and fumbling with domestic jet engine development programs. Jet engines are a complex amalgam of electrical, electronic, mechanical, chemical and metallurgical sciences with thousands of highly complex moving parts. Even if copied piece by piece, it may not perform as well as the original.
The technology copyist would not know the industrial processes behind each precision-made part, the specialized tooling, the machining approaches to their manufacture, and the specific performance and tensile pattern of each metal part.
Producing thousands of degrees of extreme heat, the turbines and “engine core” are made of even more complex metallurgical alloys to withstand the inferno for years. They cannot simply be recognized and separated. All this is generally referred to as the “know why” and is strongly protected by the aerospace giants even in technology transfer (ToT) agreements. Only the main body of the plane can be useful for an adversary, especially if it is a stealth aircraft, to understand its radar-evading properties.
China took several pieces of a downed US F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia during the NATO invasion of Yugoslavia in 1999. This technology was used in the J-20 Gen stealth fighter. 5 of Chengdu. The Su-35 is not a stealth fighter, but a pure air-superiority fighter with formidable multi-role capability. With tensions rising between China and the US over Taiwan and Russia preparing for a future conflict with NATO/US/Europe after the latter’s continued hard line against Russia, the release of the aircraft’s technologies will undoubtedly be a massive tactical blow to both the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF).
The PLAAF also operates 24 Su-35S (NATO reference designation Flanker E), deliveries of which were completed in April 2019. However, this is unlikely to be more than a tactical advantage that will have no bearing on the strategic outcome of war.
In Ukraine, Western experts have noted that Russia has not mobilized its full military capability. Mindful that Europe and the US were watching how it was fighting, Russia deliberately resorted to a “long war” and achieved its goals in a slow, gradual fashion spread over many months.
The pursuit of a quick, decisive victory would reveal her military handbook. It will only take a clash between NATO and Russia to reveal whether British and American scientists have found anything worthwhile in the Su-35S.
