Sukhoi Su-25
The original 'Grach' (rook) — an armoured Soviet shturmovik built in Tbilisi · First flight 1975 · In service 1981
The Su-25 grew out of a 1968 Soviet decision to build a dedicated armoured close-support aircraft, because the fast jets of the day could neither survive ground fire nor keep a target in sight. Sukhoi's T-8 design beat the Ilyushin Il-102 in the Air Force competition, and the first prototype, T8-1, flew on 22 February 1975 in the hands of Vladimir Ilyushin. Series production began in 1978 at Factory No. 31 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The pilot sits in a bathtub of welded titanium sheet on a K-36 ejection seat, with a periscope on the canopy to make up for the poor rearward view. The first unit, the 80th Assault Aviation Regiment, formed in February 1981 at Sitalchay in Azerbaijan. Between 1978 and 1989 Tbilisi built 582 single-seat Su-25s for the Soviet forces, not counting export aircraft, and the type became the backbone of the large Russian fleet.
After 1991 the aircraft were divided among the Soviet successor states. Belarus refurbished 18 Su-25s for Peru, delivered in late 1998, and Georgia, home of the factory, kept the type in service. Production at Tbilisi ended in 2010.
