Europe’s last “fitters” only have a few months left. In the course of the far-reaching modernization of the Polish armed forces – on the way on the way to becoming the strongest army in Europe – the Polish Air Force is also undergoing a comprehensive renewal and expansion process. This marks the end of an important chapter in its history: the last operational Sukhoi Su-22 (NATO codename: “Fitter”-K/G) swing-wing aircraft are being decommissioned.
While this export designation is common internationally, the original type designation Su-17 was always used in Russia.
Farewell to a legend
From 1985 – in the final phase of the communist regime – 90 Su-22M4s and 20 two-seater Su-22UM3Ks were introduced into the Polish Air Force. 14 aircraft were lost in accidents and eight pilots died. Together with the remaining MiG-29s of German, Czech and Russian origin, they are still among the last Soviet-designed fighter jets in the arsenal. But their days are also numbered.
It is due to be decommissioned in 2025 – in favor of 48 KAI FA-50s, a light South Korean fighter trainer with significantly reduced weapons effectiveness. The symbolic transition was marked by a joint farewell flight on April 29, during which the Su-22s flew in formation together with their successor. The military newspaper Polska Zbrojna documented this event impressively in a video (Su-22 – pożegnalna sesja air-to-air z udziałem FA-50), from which the aerial photos were also taken.
First Soviet swing-wing aircraft
The Su-22 was a further development of the Su-7 “Fitter-A” fighter-bomber, which achieved fame in the Middle East wars, among other things. The prototype of the last version with swing wings – a novelty for Soviet aircraft – made its maiden flight in August 1966.
Of the more than 2,860 aircraft built, around 1,160 were exported to 15 countries. The Su-22M4, produced from 1983 to 1990, was the most powerful model with improved avionics, laser rangefinder in the nose cone and an additional air intake in front of the vertical stabilizer. With a top speed of Mach 1.75 (1,860 km/h), 4,850 liters of internal fuel and up to 4.5 tons of weapons load at 12 outstations, it offered a range of missions that many modern types – despite elaborate integration – barely surpass.
The arsenal also included anti-radar missiles and exotic on-board cannons with twin 23-millimeter cannons pointing forwards-downwards or backwards-downwards.
Polish upgrade – a last stand
Despite its technical qualities, the concept of the Su-22 is outdated in the age of networked combat management. Nevertheless, from 2015, a total of 12 Su-22M4s and six UM3Ks were overhauled and avionically modernized by the Polish Aviation Maintenance Plant WZL No. 2 in Bydgoszcz. They will be deployed at Świdwin Air Base (EPSN), around 60 kilometers from the Baltic coast, by the 8th and 40th Tactical Squadrons of the 21st Tactical Air Base.
From export hit to relic
The Su-22 was once an export hit: it flew in Angola, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iran (IRGC), Yemen, Kazakhstan, Libya, Peru, Syria, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Vietnam. It was also widely used within the Warsaw Pact – for example in the GDR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and, of course, Poland. Today, there are probably around 100 machines still active worldwide – secured in Iran, Vietnam and Angola.
The author visited the bases of these “smoking dinosaurs” several times after the Cold War, for example in Náměšť nad Oslavou (Czech Republic) and from 1993 also in Kuchyňa near Malacky in Slovakia, just over the Austrian border. Obsolete operational plans of the Warsaw Pact Air Force were also once viewed there, in which the Brenner Pass or Austrian air bases were marked as secondary targets – for an eventuality that fortunately never occurred.
But even today – at least until the introduction of new systems such as the planned Ground Based Air Defense (Mid Range) and the Skyranger air defence system from Rheinmetall Air Defense on Pandur Evolution – effective protection against such attacks in Austria would hardly be possible.
