In 1970 the Soviet armed forces badly needed a modern ground attack aircraft to support their ground forces. Two of the famous Soviet design bureaux made proposals: The Ilyushin OKB with the Ⅱ-40 and the Sukhoi OKB with the Su-25. The Su-25 was chosen as the winner and made its first flight in 1972. Following further development, the aircraft went into service in 1980 in support of the Soviet forces in Afghanistan, having been identified by NATO and given the reporting name 'Frogfoot'. Subsequently the aircraft was also exported to a number of nations in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East, with more than 1,000 aircraft being produced. It has seen active service in a number of different theatres, including the recent Russian involvement in Syria, and is still in operational use today. The book under review, which is the latest in the 'Famous Russian Aircraft' series, studies every aspect of the life of the Su-25 in great detail. Starting with a review of the competition, it then describes the testing and development of the aircraft, before giving a very detailed view of the aircraft structure and the wide variety of weapons that the aircraft is capable of carrying.
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