The arms race of the Cold War was a period of brilliant development for military aircraft
The Soviet Union and the West pushed each other to go beyond the limits to produce the best war machines in a variety of roles
In 1955 Sukhoi debuted the Su-7, originally developed as a fighter bomber, and then rapidly becoming a major Soviet ground attack aircraft in the 1960s
The Su-7 was rugged in its simplicity, but its Lyulka AL-7 engine had such high fuel consumption that it seriously limited the aircraft's payload
as even short-range missions required that at least two hardpoints be used to carry drop tanks rather than ordnance
There were some limitations that really affected its operating life
It was possibly the worst ground attack aircraft the Soviet Union built.
The Su-7, also known as the Fitter, entered service in 1959. A total of about 1,847 were built between 1957 and 1972
The aircraft would become the first Soviet aircraft to utilize the all-moving tailplane and a translating centerbody
as well as a movable inlet cone in the air-intake
The aircraft featured an open nose assembly for which to feed the engine and air intake was controlled through a variable-position nose cone mounted within the intake itself
The cockpit was positioned in the forward portion of the fuselage and offered up adequate-to-poor visibility forward, upwards and to the sides
Rear vision was more-or-less blocked by the raised rear portion of the cockpit canopy and fuselage spine
The canopy was of a two piece design with featured framing. The pilot was afforded a Sukhoi-designed ejection seat
The cylindrical fuselage was relatively featureless and concluded in a conventional empennage sporting a large vertical swept tail fin with a clipped tapered edge
The horizontal tailplanes were affixed to either side of the jet exhaust ring and were extremely swept
In terms of armament, the Su-7's standard armament is a pair of powerful 30mm Nudel'man-Rikhter NR-30 series cannons
one mounted in each wing root leading edge
Optional armament could be spread out amongst the six available hard points, and could include a combination of conventional drop bombs
nuclear bombs, rocket pods, and AA-2 "Atoll" short-range air-to-air missiles
Its simple design meant maintenance wasn’t too difficult, and it proved to be a rugged aircraft thanks to that simplicity
However, the AL-7 engine was still unreliable in service, but the biggest issue with it wasn’t that
The AL-7 engine had a disgusting habit of drinking so much fuel, that it would just limit the range of the aircraft
so it could only do bare-minimum short-range missions, but also the aircrafts payload
Two hardpoints on the wings were dedicated just for extra fuel drop-tanks, not even weapons
While the Soviet Union was involved in some minor conflicts throughout the Cold War, the Su-7 never entered a combat zone in Soviet Union service
Poland would also go on to use the Su-7, up until 1990
However, it did enter service in combat with the likes of Egypt and India. But not to great success
In July 1967, during the Six-Day War, 12 Su-7s were tasked with attacking Israeli forces opposite the Suze Canal
Egyptian pilot Tahsin Zaki was in that formation
The Su-7s were loaded with four 500 kg bombs each, but the aircraft suffered so much drag that they could not accelerate beyond 372 mph or around 600 km/h
The weight and drag also made the Su-7s horrible to control. Its dismal range meant that the aircraft
if they did reach a target, would have to drop its payload as fast as possible and get out of there
Needless to say, the Su-7 was an utterly horrible aircraft in combat
The Indian Air Force would also suffer issues with the Su-7, with 14 of them lost during the 1971 war with Pakistan
They did at least find out though that thanks to its ruggedness, it could survive a lot of punishment and still make it home
But ultimately, the Su-7 was a dismal failure. The last Su-7 clung on to Soviet service until 1986
with the much more capable Su-17 and the truly fearsome MiG-27 taking over in its role