Sukhoi Su-25: Famous Russian Aircraft Hardcover – October 15, 2020

This series is the source for information on Russian Aircraft.

Yefim Gordon has done it again. He has cranked out yet another great book on Russian/fSoviet aircraft and weapons systems. In this book Yefim covers the Su-25 "Frogfoot" and it's myriad of derivatives both produced and proposed. This books seems to be a full re-hash of the old 2007 Aerofax book by the same author. What has been added aside from all the data on updates/versions and use post 2007 is a wealth of history, details and information not present in the Aerofax incarnation of this book.Details include the base Su-25, the Su-25T, Su-25TM, Su-25SM and Su-25SM3 for Russian service as well as Belorussian Ukrainian, Georgian and western upgrades for the Su-25s around the world.I am amending all my FRA reviews with the below datasheet:I weight the last three far heavier than the first three for my overall scoreTranslation errors (lower score for more errors) 4.85 (minor translation errors that read ok but make less than ideal sense)On topic Data (Better is higher) 4.5Pertinent comparisons to similar aircraft 4.0 (while parallels are drawn between the A-10 and the Su-25 it isn't a complete or fair comparison as neither aircraft was designed for the same role.)Data errors from table to text (Lower for more errors) 5.0Aircraft Sub-Variant data breakdown 5.0 for Russian and 4.0 for rest of world AircraftSpecific data on Weapons carried 4.0 (A lot of new weapons covered but older weapons are not covered as in depth as in previous books.)

I enjoyed reading and learning about the Su-25s history from design and development to actual usage. As with all the books in the series, the quality of illustrations and knowledge contained in the pages is excellent!

Although it's been 13 years since the publication of the first "Famous Russian Aircraft" book, Yefim Gordon and Dmitry Komissarov keep pumping these beasts out with shocking regularity. Although I've criticized both authors in the past, I truly do enjoy their work, warts and all. It's just that, even when they DO publish a genuinely excellent book, it still has an ever-so-faint whiff of being a mass-produced assembly-line product.In terms of format and presentation, this one is no different from the other FRAs published since Crecy took over the reins from Midland Publishing. After a brief introduction which describes the "Shturmovik" concept, the first chapter describes the first rumblings of the Soviet Air Force's need for a new CAS aircraft and the decidedly informal, almost Western method that the Soviet design bureaus went about developing their concepts. The second chapter looks at the T-8's lengthy flight testing phase and the many issues which had to be ironed out early on. The third chapter describes each of the Frogfoot's major variants, ranging from the original Su-25 "sans suffix" to the SU-25UTG shipboard trainer, the -T tank hunter, the -BM target tower, and numerous modification programs and unbuilt concepts. "The Su-25 in Detail" provides technical details of the Su-25 and the -SM, -UB, and -T variants, accompanied by a large number of photographs and diagrams.Chapter 5 provides a fairly detailed overview of the type's peacetime activities in the Soviet and Russian air forces, with Chapter 6 describing the Frogfoot in combat. Much of the chapter describes the Soviet-Afghan War, before moving on to Middle Eastern and African conflicts, both Chechen Wars, civil wars in Georgia and Ukraine, and the current Syrian Civil War. The final chapter looks at Su-25 operators outside of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Extensive production tables are provided, along with descriptions of all known accidental losses and 20 pages of line drawings from the Aerofax monograph.Except for the continuing insistence on referring to Ukraine as "the" Ukraine, the folks at Crecy have mostly weeded out the passive-aggressive political commentary which nearly ruined the revised MiG-29 FRA. It also feels a bit tighter (all things being relative, naturally) than some recent Gordon/Komissarov works, avoiding any lengthy digressions on unique camouflage patterns or multi-page photo essays depicting the same aircraft in ever-so-slightly different angles. It helps that the Su-25 had a troubled development history and has probably seen more combat than any Soviet military aircraft designed since the 1960s. On a purely visual level, this is one of the best-looking books in the series, with lots of excellent color photographs and profiles, diagrams, and some gritty "in action" photography. Although the cover says there are "over 600" illustrations, I counted nearly 1,100 in total.Unfortunately, the editing leaves something to be desired. There are still quite a few run-on sentences, typoes, and sentences that end without punctuation, and unless you get turned on by the designations of Russian avionics and weapon systems, or enjoy lengthy lists of everyone involved in a particular project or division, some rather dull spots. Griping aside, this is a pretty solid reference book, and one of the authors' better recent collaborations. If you have an interest in attack aircraft or Soviet and Russian military aircraft in general, you'll find much to love.

This 2020 volume goes well into detail about the Su-25 development, subsystems, weapons, variants and operational history. Very happy with this purchase to really understand the Su-25 and Su-25T in DCS World; will learn a lot about the backstory of this jet in the flight sim.

Sukhoi's Su-25 (NATO: Frogfoot) is now seeing operation service in another war: that over Ukraine, in 2022. It has seen numerous wars over. the past couple decades, since it introduction over Afghanistan in 1980. It has been in service with nearly ever African continent air force, throughout the Middle East, Central Asian and Cacausus air forces - serving in a total of 23 air forces.The 496 pages is incredibly detailed converse of a single aircraft design, in itself. There are seven Chapters, four Appendices, and Index. These include:- Competition : The T-8 project is Born (....to Ilyushin OKB, never design an "ugly aircraft" - IL-40....)- The T-8 flies - Testing and Defining- Version variety- The Su-25 in Detail- Peacetime Service- Above the Battlefields: The Su-25 in Action- Frogfeet far and wide - the Su-25 operators (various air forces)- Appendix 1 - Su-25 Family Specifications- Appendix 2 - Production List. (aircraft serial numbers list)- Appendix 3 - Accidents and Attrition- Appendix 4 - Line DrawingsThis is followed by a useful Index.The series remains the most authoritative history of both Soviet and post-Soviet era aircraft, essentialfor anyone interested in the history of Russian aircraft designs since the beginning of the Cold War - and since.HKIGHLY RECOMMENDED !

Das Buch ist - wie offenbar alle aus dieser Reihe - sehr ausführlich und behandelt wirklich alle Einzelheiten zu dem Flugzeug. Ich finde es auch allgemein gut geschrieben, liest sich schön. Gerade die Einsatzberichte. Ist auch recht aktuell (russisches Engagement mit Su 25 in Syrien).

Per qualità di informazioni, di pagine, di foto i libri Famous Russian Aircraft del duo Gordon - Komissarov sono assolutamente impareggiabili. Peccato per i prezzi, perché una volta usciti fuori produzione toccano vertici abbastanza esagerati.

Absolutely recommend these books. They is no detail missed, which for a current operational aircraft is surprising. Yefim Gordan and Dmitry Komissarov spare no part for examination with plenty of detail and photographs. If you are aviation buff, a modeller or budding aeronautical engineer you will not find better books on aviation. I wish someone in UK or USA would publish anything close to these books for British or American aircraft (old or current) to the sane degree of detail.The narrative is a tad biased, but that applies to any countries products; this is more than compensated by sheer level of detail contained.

Ouvrage de référence, très complet qui retrace l'histoire de la partie R&D, jusqu'au versions récente.C'est un beau livre à la fois riche de son contenu avec de très nombreuses images et moult détails écris. Le genre de livre aussi à l'aise dans la bibliothèque que sur le bureau ou le canapé.à recommandé aux passionnés et accro du modelisme.

Un altra bella monografia di Yefim Gordon su un aereo sovietico.