Sukhoi Su-25 in our “kitchen” (Kuchyna Air Base, Slovakia) Pt. VI. Details from Hangar

Here you can find the rest of my photographs depicting the weapons cerried by Slovak Su-25s. This post is a completion of my article, which you can find here. As I am a modeller and really NO expert on weapons I am giving here mainly the visual information which I consider usable for another modellers. I added several links for those of you who need more technical or historical background.

Su-25 attack planes can carry the rocket pods (or launchers for unguided rockets). You can see the UB-32 rocket pod on these introductory pictures.

Typical external stores included FAB general-purpose bombs; RBK cluster-bomb canisters; and unguided rockets, such as 32-round 57 millimeter rocket pods or 20-round 80 millimeter rocket pods. Source: vectorsite.net

These rocket pods are designated as UB. UB stands for “universal block”, for it could be carried on typical bomb hardpoints, “57” is referring to the actual diameter of the launch tube (the diameter of the rocket plus 2 mm). Source: wikipedia.org

This is the close-up of underwing pylon and the same (UB-32) pod when looking backwards (upper picture) and looking toward plane’s nose (lower picture).

The UB-32 pod is to carry the S5 rockets:

Source of the (rocket) photograph: wikipedia.org

S-5 (first designated ARS-57) is a rocket weapon developed by the Soviet Air Force and used by military aircraft against ground area targets. It is in service with the Russian Air Force and various export customers.

It is produced in a variety of subtypes with different warheads, including HEAT anti-armour (S-5K), high-explosive fragmentation (S-5M/MO), smoke, and incendiary rounds. Each rocket is about 1.4 meters (4 ft 6 in) long and weighs about 5 kg (11 lb), depending on warhead and fuze. Range is 3 to 4 kilometres (1.9 to 2.6 miles). Source: wikipedia.org

This is the detail of the rear side looking directly forward:

The following pictures are showing the 20-round rocket pod with conical forward part. Unlike the UB-32 there is lack of the central tubes sticking out. The designation of this (unguided rocket) pod is probably B-8M1:

And finally two close-ups showing the front and rear sections in more detail:

This is another air-to-ground weapon, probably the RBK 250 cluster-bomb canister, here shown from different views:

The Su-25 was also sometimes fitted with cannon pods containing a twin-barreled GSh-23 23 millimeter cannon, with 260 rounds per pod and the ability to pivot the cannon 30 degrees down from the aircraft centerline. The pod could be mounted backwards to provide covering fire as the Su-25 left the target area, discouraging the Mujahedin habit of popping up out of hiding and firing on the aircraft from the rear. Reports indicate that the cannon pods were often mounted with one firing forward and another firing backward.
Source: vectorsite.net

I suppose this is the upper mentioned GS-23 cannon pod. The  pod was exhibited on a metal support stand. Please do not miss the numbers of various details, like air-vents, rivetting, surface structure and stenciling:

Here you can see the direct front view onto the pod with the (twin)cannon in lowered position. Please note the slot in which the cannon fits while retracted.

And this is the side view at the lowered cannon with another modeller-loved details:

More details concerning Slovak Su-25 can be found in my older articles: Sukhoi Su-25 in our “kitchen” (with the numbering as they go one after another) I., II., III., IV. and V.

Similar posts can be find in References category.

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Images & Text Copyright © by Marcel Meres.