The Sukhoi T-3 was a prototype Soviet

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

Development

Starting in the early 1950s, the development of the T-3 proceeded in parallel with the S-1 which would eventually become the

Sukhoi Su-7 The Sukhoi Su-7 ( NATO designation name: Fitter-A) is a swept wing, supersonic fighter aircraft developed by the Soviet Union in 1955. Originally, it was designed as a tactical, low-level dogfighter, but was not successful in this role. On the ...

. While the S-1 was a conventional

swept wing A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction. Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigate ...

aircraft (''S'' stood for ''strelovidniy'', стреловидный, swept wing), the T-3 had a

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

with a leading edge sweep of 57° (''T'' stood for ''treugolniy'', треугольный, delta wing).Green, William. "The Great Book of Fighters". 2001. MBI Publishing. Aside from the wings, the two aircraft shared the basic design as well as the Lyulka AL-7 turbojet engine. Since the T-3 was intended to be an interceptor, it was fitted with the ''Almaz'' (Алмаз, Diamond) radar housed in the air intake. The prototype first flew on 26 May 1956. The T-3 was ordered into production at Factory No.153 but events overtook it when a revised specification was issued for the Interceptor fighter role. Three aircraft were completed and transported by rail to the OKB-51 factory near Moscow, where only one was to fly in as-built condition and all three prototypes were modified for various test programmes, becoming, for example, the T-39, T-49, PT-7, PT-8 and other experimental aircraft.Gordon, Yefim. ''Sukhoi Interceptors''. Hinkley, Midland. 2004. To investigate different radar radome configurations as well as develop radar and missile sub-systems, two of the prototypes were converted to become the PT-7 and PT-8. The PT-7 had a variable intake ramp, while the PT-8 had an extended nose with a translating centerbody. Although not proceeded with, the T-3 served as the basis for what would eventually become the Sukhoi Su-9, forming the backbone of the PVO during the 1960s.

Development

Specifications (T-3)

See also

References

Further reading