Летные будни. ТАКР Адмирал Кузнецов. БЧ-6. Авиация The Sukhoi Su-33 is a navalized version of the Su-27 originally designed to operate from the Soviet Union’s first class of large aircraft carriers. To meet the requirements of carrier duty, the Su-33 features a strengthened airframe, corrosion resistance, arrestor gear, more powerful engines, and wing and More.. tailplane folding mechanisms for storage aboard ship. The Su-33 is also the first member of the Su-27 family fitted with canards near the juncture of the wing and leading edge extensions allowing better maneuverability while reducing the takeoff distance and landing speed. The Su-27K, as the design was first known, was originally developed for the Soviet Navy alongside the MiG-29K. It was envisioned that both aircraft would be purchased for carrier operations. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union left the Russian Navy with only one Kuznetsov class carrier, and the decision was made to acquire a single aircraft type for carrier use. The Navy chose the Su-27K over the competing MiG-29K because of its greater range and payload. The tradeoff is the Su-27K is a larger and more expensive plane reducing the number that can be stored aboard ship.  The total number of Su-27K fighters, now better known as the Su-33, built for the Russian Navy is somewhat questionable. Several experimental Su-27 aircraft were used to test features of a navalized model including folding wings, ski-jump takeoffs, arrested landings, and canard aerodynamics. These features were finally combined in two T-10K prototypes and seven pre-production examples of the Su-27K configuration. Perhaps another 18 production models were ultimately delivered out of an original order of 24. At least four pre-production airframes are also believed to have been adapted for operational use, and the remainder of a single active-duty squadron is made up by the standard Su-27 land-based version. Unfortunately, budget cuts severely hampered airc...