Sukhoi Su-24

what is it?

The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather tactical bomber developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It was the first of the USSR's aircraft to carry an integrated digital navigation/attack system.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 17.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 1,654 km/htop speed
• size 43.8 tmax take-off weight
• built 1,400made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 56 years ago, in 1970.
• 🏎️Top speed is 12.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.3 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 17.6 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 7 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1970-01-17

introduced

1975

status

still flying

number built

1,400

role

all-weather tactical bomber/interdictor

origin

🇷🇺 Russia

makers

Sukhoi, Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association

engines

2× Lyulka AL-21F-3A / Lyulka AL-21

crew

2

length

22.5 m

wingspan

17.6 m

height

6.2 m

max take-off weight

43.8 t

top speed

1,654 km/h

range

—

ceiling

11,000 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.