Su-27 Flanker
ICAO SU27The large Soviet air superiority fighter and the family of aircraft descended from it. Live Su-27 and Su-30 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No Su-27 Flanker is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Sukhoi
- Role
- Air superiority fighter
- Class
- L2J — Landplane, 2 jet engines
- Crew
- 1, or 2 in the two-seat variants
- First flight
- 20 May 1977
- In service
- 1985
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the Su-27 Flanker
The Flanker is a big aircraft — closer in size to an F-15 than an F-16 — designed for long-range air superiority over a very large country. It became the basis for an entire family: the Su-30 two-seat multirole version, the Su-33 for carriers, the Su-34 strike aircraft and the Su-35.
This designator gathers much of that family together, and its operators are Russia, Ukraine, China, India, Vietnam, Algeria and others. Ukrainian and Russian aircraft both fly it, on opposite sides of the same war.
Visibility is very poor. Russian military aircraft transmit inconsistently and receiver coverage across the relevant areas is thin, so this page will normally be empty.
Callsign prefixes
- RFF
- Russian Federation Air Force
- UAF
- Ukrainian Air Force
How to recognise it
- —Very large for a fighter, with two widely spaced engines and a curved blended fuselage.
- —Twin fins mounted outboard, and a distinctive sting projecting between the engines.
- —Long, drooping nose and large leading-edge extensions.
Common questions
+ What is the difference between the Su-27, Su-30 and Su-35?
They are successive members of one family. The Su-27 is the original single-seat fighter, the Su-30 a two-seat multirole development, and the Su-35 a heavily upgraded single-seater with thrust vectoring. Several share this ADS-B designator.
+ Will Russian aircraft appear on this page?
Rarely. Transponder use is inconsistent and there are few ADS-B receivers across much of Russia, so the feed captures very little Russian military activity.
+ What is the sting between the engines?
A tail boom housing, on various versions, a rearward-facing radar warning receiver, a brake parachute or countermeasures. It is a reliable Flanker identifier.