Alexei Poveshchenko, an advisor to the general director of Sukhoi, said the design bureau, which was founded by Pavel Sukhoi, has created a number of military aircraft. "They include such world famous aircraft as the Su-7 fighter," he said, "the Su-9, the Su-11 and the Su-15 fighters-interceptors, the Su-17 fighter-bomber with a variable-geometry wing, the Su-24 war bomber, the Su-25 attack aircraft, the Su-27, the Su-30 and the Su-33 super-maneuverable fighters, the Su-34 fighter-bomber, the Su-35 multipurpose super-maneuverable fighter and the Su-47 Berkut aircraft with a forward swept wing."
According to him, the Su-26, the Su-29 and the Su-31 stunt planes have won more than a hundred gold medals at international and European championships. The experience accumulated by designing military aircraft was used in the development of the S-21, the Su-38l, the Su-49 and the S-80 - civil projects.
He noted that at the end of the 1980s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau made a breakthrough in the sphere of super-maneuverability. "Maneuvers like the Pugachev Cobra, the Hook and the Tumble that can be done on Sukhoi aircraft cannot be reproduced on any other foreign plane," he said.
According to Mr. Poveshchenko, presently the Sukhoi Design Bureau is conducting a broad range of research, experimental and design work in different spheres. "In many respects," he said, "because of this fact the Sukhoi company is a leader in military aircraft exports. It accounts for 50% of Russia's exports of military and military technology products."
Currently, the company continues work on a next-generation (fifth generation) military plane. On the order from the Russian Defense Ministry, the company is modernizing the Su-27, the Su-24 and the Su-25, which are in service in the Russian Air Force. The company is also successfully conducting joint tests with the state of the Su-32 fighter-bomber.
In the future, the company plans to begin full-scale production of the Russian Regional Jet. The first flight of this regional civil plane has been scheduled for 2006, and full-scale production is expected to begin in 2007.
