Fitters in the Middle East

Sukhoi's Fitter family reshaped Middle Eastern air power through decades of service, evolution, and devoted crews.

Frequently overshadowed by rival designs of the Mikoyan i Gurevich Design Bureau, the family of fighter-bombers of the aircraft design bureau headed by Pavel O. Sukhoi and developed in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are far less-well-known in the West. Reestablished in the early 1950s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau initially followed the same path as its primary competitor and designed two fighters, one equipped with swept wing, and the other with delta-wing. In the West, they became known under the ASCC/NATO-codename 'Fitter'.

Through the 1960s, and unlike MiG, Sukhoi continued developing its 'Fitters', resulting in an entire family of airframes, equipped with ever better avionics and more powerful engines. Its Su-7BMKs (ASCC/NATO-codename 'Fitter-A') entered service with Egypt in 1966, Syria and Iraq in 1967, followed by Algeria a year later. In 1972-1973, Su-17, and then Su-20 - the second generation of this design, and the first equipped with variable-sweep wing - entered service in Egypt, followed by Iraq and Syria. Finally, in 1978-1979, the third and final generation - including variants such as the Su-22, Su-22M, Su-22M-3, and Su-22M-4 (ASCC/NATO-codenames 'Fitter F/G/J/K', respectively) - entered service in Iraq, followed by Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Highly appreciated - and often outright beloved - by their pilots and ground crews alike, they formed the backbone of the fighter-bomber fleets of these six air forces, and saw action in about a dozen different wars.

Richly illustrated with a host of exclusive photographs and custom-drawn color profiles, Fitters of the Middle East is the first title ever offering a comprehensive and inclusive operational history of 'Fitters' with six major air forces. As such it is an indispensable single-point source of reference.