Su-22M4 (Germany)

This page is about the strike aircraft Su-22M4 (Germany). For other versions, see Su-17/22 (Family).

◊Su-22M4

◊Su-22M4

Description

During the 1980s, the Soviet Union and its allies began adopting upgraded variants of the Su-17 fighter-bomber, which was exported as the "Su-22" for Soviet allies. The East German air force would receive 48 of the latest Su-22M4 fighter bomber, along with 8 of the twin-seat Su-22UM-3K trainer aircraft. The German Su-22s would serve as a frontline strike aircraft for the Warsaw Pact countries, and as a primary line of attack during a possible war with NATO. The Su-22M4s would remain in East German service until the re-unification of Germany, when almost all of the German Su-22s were either scrapped or sold off as they were incompatible with NATO hardware and standards. Only a few Su-22M4s were kept and repainted in Luftwaffe liveries for briefly serving as evaluation and testing aircraft.

Introduced in Update "La Royale" as a continuation of the fighter-bomber line, following its weaker brother, the Su-22UM3K, in the tech tree, the Su-22M4 is the top-range Su-17/22 model, and is nearly identical to the Su-17M4 in the Soviet aircraft tree. This aircraft is characterized by its upgrades over its predecessor in the tree, mainly in that it can carry advanced guided ordnance such TV guided weapons in addition to the familiar laser guided ordnance. The aircraft is also no slouch in the air-to-air department either, now carrying over 250 countermeasures and the all-aspect R-60MK missiles, delivered swiftly to the enemy's location using the upgraded engine and avionics. All in all, this aircraft serves as a true titan of multirole performance for the aircraft of the German top ranks, excelling at both air to air and air to ground tasks, making it a force to be reckoned with in mixed battles.

General info

Flight performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics	Max speed (km/h at 11,000 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	2,027	2,011		27.3	27.5	167.9	161.3	850
Upgraded	___	___		__._	__._	__._	__._

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear	Drogue chute
_	_	_	_	_	_

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
		___	___	___	~__	~__

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< ___	< ___	< ___	-

Engine performance

Engine			Aircraft mass
Engine name		Number	Basic mass		Wing loading (full fuel)
Saturn AL-21F-3		1	11,245 kg		438 kg/m2
Engine characteristics			Mass with fuel (no weapons load)				Max Gross Weight
Weight (each)	Type		12m fuel	20m fuel	30m fuel	40m fuel
1,800 kg	Afterburning axial-flow turbojet		12,385 kg	13,102 kg	14,031 kg	15,045 kg	19,302 kg
Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB/SB)			Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (WEP)
Condition	100%	WEP	12m fuel	20m fuel	30m fuel	40m fuel	MGW
Stationary	6,400 kgf	9,039 kgf	0.73	0.69	0.64	0.60	0.47
Optimal	7,232 kgf (1,200 km/h)	13,188 kgf (1,417 km/h)	1.06	1.01	0.94	0.88	0.68

Survivability and armour

Examine the survivability of the aircraft. Note how vulnerable the structure is and how secure the pilot is, whether the fuel tanks are armoured, etc. Describe the armour, if there is any, and also mention the vulnerability of other critical aircraft systems.

Armaments

Ballistic Computer
CCIP (Guns)	CCIP (Rockets)	CCIP (Bombs)	CCRP (Bombs)

Offensive armament

The Su-22M4 (Germany) is armed with:

• A choice between two presets:
  • 2 x 30 mm NR-30 cannons, wing root-mounted (80 rpg = 160 total)
  • 2 x 30 mm NR-30 cannons + 256 x countermeasures + 12 x large calibre countermeasures

Suspended armament

The Su-22M4 (Germany) can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
23 mm GSh-23L cannons (250 rpg)	1		1			1		1
100 kg OFAB-100 bombs	5		1	4	4	1		5
250 kg OFAB-250sv bombs	1		1	3	3	1		1
250 kg OFAB-250Sh bombs	1		1	3	3	1		1
500 kg FAB-500M-62 bombs	1		1	2	2	1		1
500 kg FAB-500Sh bombs	1		1	2	2	1		1
ZB-500 incendiary bombs	1			1	1			1
S-3K rockets	7			7	7			7
S-5K rockets	32		32			32		32
S-8KO rockets	20		20			20		20
S-13OF rockets	5		5			5		5
S-24B rockets	1		1	1	1	1		1
S-25O rockets	1							1
Kh-25ML missiles	1			1	1			1
Kh-29L missiles				1	1
Kh-29T missiles				1	1
S-25L missiles	1							1
R-60MK missiles		1	2			2	1
820 l drop tanks	1			1	1			1
Maximum permissible loadout weight: 4,160 kg Maximum permissible wing load: 2,100 kg Maximum permissible weight imbalance: 700 kg

Default weapon presets

4 x 820 l drop tanks 2 x R-60MK missiles 6 x R-60MK missiles 20 x 100 kg OFAB-100 bombs (2,000 kg total) 10 x 250 kg OFAB-250sv bombs (2,500 kg total) 10 x 250 kg OFAB-250Sh bombs (2,500 kg total) 8 x 500 kg FAB-500M-62 bombs (4,000 kg total) 8 x 500 kg FAB-500Sh bombs (4,000 kg total) 28 x S-3K rockets 128 x S-5K rockets 80 x S-8KO rockets 20 x S-13OF rockets 6 x S-24B rockets 2 x S-25O rockets 4 x Kh-25ML missiles 2 x Kh-29T missiles 2 x Kh-29L missiles 2 x S-25L missiles 4 x 23 mm GSh-23L cannons (250 rpg = 1,000 total) 4 x ZB-500 incendiary bombs

Usage in battles

Air RB

The useable loadouts can vary significantly depending on the opponents faced in the battle. Generally, any loadout carrying 8 FAB-500s is optimal as it can destroy exactly two bases. The R-60MKs are suboptimal in most scenarios due to how susceptible they are to flares, but excel when launched in "melee" (as in: from behind, no more than 800 m away), as they tend to fly past the flares and still hit their target. That said, the Su-22M4 should not be used for dogfighting, instead you should engage distracted or vulnerable targets.

A rare but entertaining scenario is when the Su-22M4 meets subsonic aircraft like the A-10A Late or any Su-25 variant as the Kh-29T can in fact be used to engage them and can cause panic as the enemy pilot sees that their flares have no effect.

Ground RB

The Su-22M4's performance as close air support is as to be expected. The generous rocket load is recommended as even the FAB-500 bombs need relatively high precision to be effective. The laser-guided weapons are quite underwhelming as the plane lacks any form of advanced fire control to effectively target anything smaller than a cargo ship.

Where the jet really shines is with the Kh-29T, originally designed against ships, this missile can obliterate any ground target. When spawned in, immediately begin climbing at a steep angle and switch to missile view, within a few seconds you should have a clear view of the battlefield. Center the crosshair on a target and simply hold the launch button, the missile will fire the moment it acquires a lock.

However, you should be mindful of what you engage.

Do:

• Enemy anti-air: The Pantsir-S1 especially is a treat for the missile's guidance system due to its large rectangular shape.
• Targets far from cover: Enemies who think they are safe behind hills are especially good targets.
• Helicopters: Although they can occasionally dodge the missile, it is reasonably effective while keeping you out of their AA missile range.

Don't:

• Enemies under fire: While much faster than the AGM-65, it still takes time for the missile to reach the target, and them deploying smoke or being destroyed will waste it.
• Enemies moving to cover: The missile cannot re-acquire a lock and will self-destruct if it loses the target.
• Targets that are off-bore: Although the missile has impressive manoeuvrability, it still has limits and the plane's nose should be pointing towards the target at ranges closer than 6 km.

Pros and cons

Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".

Pros:

Cons:

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Su-22M4 (Germany) from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related Development

• Su-17/22 (Family)

Other jet planes with variable sweep wings

• Tornado (Family)
• MiG-23 (Family)
• F14 (Family)
• F-111A

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

Sukhoi Design Bureau (Сухого Опытное конструкторское бюро)
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