No Simulators! Russian Air Force Glued GoPro Dash Cam On Modernized Su-30SM Fighter Jets

Russia used GoPro Dash Cam on Su-30SM cockpit to record pilots posture during high G maneuver and replay and rectify their posture. A sign that Russia lacks simulators.

Sometimes, humor is the best way to explain Russian incompetence and lack of technological prowess. I wonder why the Russian Air Force purchased the American Dash Cam and glued it to the Su-30SM fighter jet’s cockpit, blocking the Head-up Display (HUD) view.

The answer lies in Russian incompetence, a lack of understanding of pilot training, and a lack of modern simulators that train pilots on the ground first.

Putin advertised the Su-30SM as a superior fighter jet to anything the West offers. REALLY! Beneath Putin’s propaganda for two decades, Russia was exposed in Ukraine so much that Russian manufacturers lost significant export markets in the Middle East, Asia and Africa due to its Soviet-era technology and junk military hardware that performed worse than expected by even the Chinese standard.

GDC learned, citing the Russian Telegram channel, that the crews of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) Su-30SM fighter jets fly in Ukraine fitted with a GoPro Dash Cam, which is additionally glued to the cockpits, blocking Head-Up Display (HUD) view.

GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman.

Unlike dedicated dash cams, GoPros don’t have automatic recording features. This means you’ll need to start and stop recording manually every time you get in and out of your car. If you forget to start recording, you won’t have any footage of an accident or incident.

This picture shows an identical GoPro facing the street. In the Russian Su-30SM, the GoPro Dash Cam is facing a pilot.
1970s pilot seats visible on Su-30SM aircraft delivered to Belarus.

GoPro has been used to train pilots, record events in case of accidents, and determine whether the GoPro survived the burning wreckage of the Su-30SM. The Russian Air Force is well for its peacetime accidents and losing aircraft. It’s very unusual for Sukhoi Design Bureau to glue GoPro on the cockpit, knowing GoPro may not survive the accident.

Su-30SM odd structures to block pilot views.

Since Russia does not have a digital and modern training regime or a modern fighter simulation facility, GoPro might help the pilot check posture during high-G manoeuvres and adjust himself to the proper body posture if the trainer replays the camp and asks him to change the posture, for example, breath during a high-G manoeuvre.

Su-30SM odd structures on the cockpit.

G-force in the vertical direction is more difficult to tolerate than a force perpendicular to the spine because blood flows away from the brain and eyes. First, the person experiences a temporary loss of vision and then, at higher g-forces, loses consciousness. Loss of consciousness due to the acceleration of gravity on the body is better known as G-LOC.

It is true that the body can withstand higher g-forces in the prone position. The reason is that in the prone position, g-forces don’t pull blood down to the lower body and away from the brain, as happens in the seated position.

Su-30SM Fighter Jets

The Su-30SM is based on the Indian Su-30MI, a fourth-generation serial-produced and upgraded two-seat fighter jet. It is furnished with two AL-31FP thrust-vectoring reheated double-flow turbofan engines. The fighter has an operating range of 1,500 km and a flight endurance of 3.5 hours without refuelling.

Belarus’ version differs from the base Su-30 in the composition of airborne equipment, as some equipment items were replaced with French counterparts. The new combat aircraft is equipped with a French-made holographic Head-Up Display system for tactical situation analysis and map presentation.

Thales developed the HUD system for military observation and combat missions. Thales HUD 3022, fitted on Su-30SM, hosts the mission system software, which controls the navigation and attack system and coordinates aircraft sensors and effectors to ensure mission success.

Hindustan Aeronautics supplied a French-made HUD system to Russia’s Sukhoi Design Bureau.

Su-34 with GPS tapped on cockpit

Previously, former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace claimed in May 2022 that downed Russian Su-34s in Ukraine were found with primary GPS receivers taped to the dashboards, suggesting the poor quality of their in-built navigation systems.

Russian GLONASS has an accuracy problem

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the oldest such constellation. The US military developed it and became operational in 1995. It’s called Global because you can receive signals from this constellation anywhere in the world. The satellites broadcast signals to Earth, and by calculating the difference in timing of the received signals from various satellites, a receiver can figure out where it is located. The position of the satellites is known and provided in the signals that they broadcast.

Garmin GPS in Su-34’s Cockpit

Let’s compare GPS with the Russian GLONASS system. For GPS, the US has committed to maintaining at least 24 operational GPS satellites, 95% of the time. In the past few years, 31 satellites have been steadily operational. The GLONASS constellation was also completed in 1995, but at the end of the 1990s became incomplete with the loss of satellites.

Under Vladimir Putin’s presidency, the GLONASS project was made a priority and received a substantial increase in funding. By October 2011, the entire constellation of 24 satellites was restored, giving full coverage in far north or south where Russia needs GLONASS most. In terms of positional accuracy, GPS is much better than GLONASS. Still, due to the different positioning of the GLONASS satellites, GLONASS has less accuracy at lower latitudes.

Most of the 24 satellites in the Glonass constellation began broadcasting erroneous data about their locations. The ability of satellite positioning receivers to provide an accurate fix is tied to the accuracy of the signal from space, so the problem immediately affected users.

GPS-guided Bombs

On July 31, the Russian politician Aviation Colonel Viktor Alksnis surprised everyone by announcing this on his Twitter account. He drew attention to a photo that appeared on the Web, which shows the products of the American company Garmin Ltd., a manufacturer of GPS navigation equipment, in the cockpit of a Russian aircraft.

The cockpit has a Garmin GPS tapped on it. An exact model of the hand-held Garmin GPS is on the right side.

Something in this photo alarmed me. I looked closer and saw a device in the upper part of the photo, which can in no way be attributed to aircraft equipment. Moreover, it is attached to the dashboard with a red clamp. In 25 years of service in the Air Force, I have never seen such a attachment method on an aircraft. Well, this is an ordinary tourist satellite navigator sold in any electronics store, said Aviation Colonel Viktor Alksnis.

Experts have confirmed that this is a regular GPS navigator from Garmin and that the Russians may have installed them in their planes in case their navigation systems malfunctioned. The media concluded that Garmin said its GPS navigators provide the pilot with accurate position data even in heavy clouds or deep canyons.

The GLONASS constellation is effective in the north and south poles. However, it is known to produce erroneous tracking in the Equator, making GLONASS-guided bombs ineffective in the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Note that in the presented image, allegedly taken in 2016 over Raqqa at the time of the KAB-500Kr application across the bridge over the Euphrates, in the cockpit of a Russian aircraft, the use of the American GPS navigation system simultaneously with Russian equipment was recorded. In this case, American pilots do the same. Where there is a likelihood of falling under the operation of the electronic warfare / electronic warfare systems of the “probable partners”, they use the navigation systems of Russia and China as insurance. Moreover, no one is satisfied with the information noise; this is usual practice because pilots’ lives matter.

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