Su-34 Fullback

Russia’s supersonic strike fighter-bomber — a twin-seat Su-27 derivative that evolved into the workhorse of glide-bomb warfare over Ukraine and the most heavily attrited Russian combat jet.

Overview

The Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name “Fullback”) is a heavy, twin-engine, twin-seat tactical strike aircraft that grew out of the Su-27 Flanker family and entered Russian service in 2014. Its distinctive flattened nose, side-by-side cockpit, and enormous internal fuel capacity earned it the unofficial moniker “Hellduck” and made it the longest-legged Russian tactical jet in operational service. Although originally designed for deep interdiction, the Su-34 emerged after 2023 as Russia’s premier launch platform for UMPK-guided glide bombs — a role that has defined the air war over Ukraine and placed the Fullback at the center of intense attrition. While production at Novosibirsk has been accelerated to replace combat losses and worn-out airframes, the type has become the single most-targeted Russian fixed-wing platform, with dozens of airframes visually confirmed destroyed or damaged by mid-2025.

Development

The Su-34’s roots trace to late-1970s studies of a dedicated strike derivative of the Su-27, and the official Su-27IB (T-10V) programme was launched in 1986 around the Sh-141/V004 attack radar. The T-10V prototype first flew on 13 April 1990, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union starved the programme of funding for nearly a decade; the first production-standard aircraft did not fly until 28 December 1994, and state trials dragged on until September 2011. Series production finally began in 2005, and the type formally entered Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) service on 21 March 2014. Early serial orders under contracts of 2008 (32 aircraft) and 2012 (92 aircraft) brought the fleet to 131 operational airframes by December 2020, according to Wikipedia. A follow-on order for 24 modernised Su-34M (“NVO/Sych”) aircraft was placed in 2020, and from June 2022 the Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association (NAZ) switched all output to the upgraded standard. The full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a surge in deliveries that pushed NAZ to roughly double its pre-war production tempo; seven batches were handed over in 2025 alone, and the plant entered 2026 with additional airframes already in build (RuAvia.su).

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