The fighter-bomber supporting ground troops The Soviet SU-22M3 is a jet-propelled swing wing fighter-bomber. Its job was to support ground troops in battle. The SU-17 denomination was reserved for planes in the Soviet army while the SU-20 and 22 were used for exported planes. The Hungarian Air Force used 12 planes, which served between 1984 and 1997. NATO reporting name: Fitter-J. A shorter runway was needed The SU-17 was created by OKB Sukhoi at the beginning of the 1970s by further developing the SU-7. There were several problems with the SU-7, which was the Soviet air force's primary attack plane: besides low weight bearing and range, it also had a long take-off distance and it could only be launched on runways that were large and in good shape. However, during war such runways were not always available at the front and the enemy always attempted to destroy these first. The outer two thirds of the wings were developed to have variable sweep and thereby there was no need to redesign the body of the SU-7. An NR-30 cannon was installed at the base of both wings. Four weapon attachment points were placed on the underside of the fuselage. There are 3 such points beneath each wing. In total there were 59 SU-22M3s made, intended for export. 12 of these served in the Hungarian People's Army. In Hungary The first SU-22M3K fighter-bombers arrived in Hungary in an unassembled form in 1983 and flew in the Taszár 101 Scout Airborne Company from 1984. There were three SU-22UM3K two-seated trainer versions among them. The Hungarian Air Force's planes did not use the usual Lyulka AL-21 engines, but were manufactured with the Tumansky R-29BSZ-300 gas-turbine jet engine with afterburner. The fighter-bombers carried H-23 (suspended on APU-68U launching rails), H-25ML and MP rockets. During use, 3 planes were destroyed: two M3s and one UM. The plane on display was made in the Soviet Union in 1983; serial number: 51612