The Su-25 Is Built To Kill An Army #Shorts

Around the same time the U.S. Air Force was looking for a dedicated close-air-support aircraft, a requirement that eventually fielded the A-10 Warthog, the Soviet Union was also embarking on a search for a fixed-wing tank killer. The result was the Sukhoi Su-25, known as “Frogfoot” in the West, a plane that flies for Russia and other ex-Soviet states to this day.

The aircraft also depends on armor plating to protect vital spaces. The cockpit is protected by a shell of titanium twenty-four millimeters thick, which the Soviets calculated could withstand up to the thirty-millimeter ground fire. Stainless steel plates were added to protect the pilot’s head, and other essential pieces of equipment are further armored with stainless steel plating.

The aircraft was designed with ten hardpoints for carrying fuel tanks, missiles, rockets, and bombs. Eight of the pylons were each rated for 1,021 pounds, or five hundred kilograms, while two were for carrying R-60 short-range infrared-guided missiles, Su-25 stood ready to support the Red Army’s invasion of Western Europe.