Sukhoi P-1
The Sukhoi P-1 was a prototype Soviet interceptor.
Development
Sukhoi began design studies for what was to become Izdeliye P in 1954 to meet an urgent request from the Ministry of Aviation Industry. The early studies considered crew size, armament, and powerplant.The P-1 was designed for the Uragan-1 collision-course intercept radar, which was quite complex and bulky, requiring a crew of two and air intakes on either side of the fuselage rather than at the nose, retaining the delta wing of the Sukhoi T-3 with 57-degree leading edge sweep. Although the production aircraft was intended to use the Lyulka AL-9 engine, then in development, the prototype was fitted with a Lyulka AL-7F of lower power.
The P-1 first flew in July 1957, but underwent only limited flight testing due to unavailability of the intended powerplant and ongoing problems with the radar and missile systems as well as a lack of enthusiasm from the VVS. OKB-51 persisted for some time trying to raise enthusiasm for the P-1 by proposing a larger engine, the Tumansky R-15-300 afterburning turbojet, with a similar lack of success. The sole P-1 prototype was relegated to experimental work and later scrapped.
A second prototype, the P-2 was studied, powered by twin Klimov VK-11 engines in the rear fuselage, but this version was cancelled at the mock-up review stage.