Developed from the Sukhoi Su-7, the Su-17 was the first variable-sweep wing aircraft to enter Soviet service and featured updated avionics.

The Su-17/20/22 series had a long career and has been operated by many air forces, including those of the Russian Federation, former Soviet republics, former Warsaw Pact, countries in the Arab world, Angola, and Peru.

The S-22I (also known as the Su-7IG, NATO designation "Fitter-B"), converted from a production Su-7BM, had fixed inner portions of the wing with movable outer segments that could be swept to 28°, 45°, or 62°.

Handling was generally better than the fixed wing Su-7, with the exception that buffeting at high angles of attack to warn of imminent stall no longer occurred.

The aircraft was sent into serial production in 1969 by a joint resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers.

[citation needed] The Su-17 resembles its predecessor, the Su-7, with weight-saving measures added at the cost of combat survivability, an example of which is the removal of pilot protection armor.

The batch of ten aircraft incorporated a redesigned fuselage, a streamlined cockpit (similar to the Su-7U), extra, more accessible maintenance hatches, and an upward-opening canopy.

[citation needed] Flight control was assisted by non-reversing hydraulic boosters, the BU-220DL2 and -220DP2 for the left and right ailerons, the BU-250L and -250P for the stabilizers and the BU-250DRP for the rudder.

[citation needed] The Su-17 was used during the Soviet-Afghan war during Operation South and launched air strikes a mujahideen base at Robat Jaali near the Iranian Afghan border.

Twenty Su-22M2s, two Su-22M3s and seven Su-22M4s were lost during the war with Iran, the majority to anti-aircraft fire sustained during low-level bombing raids against Iranian front lines.

On 7 February 1991, two Su-20/22s and one Su-7 were shot down by United States Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles using AIM-7 air-to-air missiles[9] when the IQAF was moving its aircraft to Iran.

[10] Two Libyan Su-22s were shot down in the Gulf of Sidra incident by United States Navy Grumman F-14 Tomcats on 19 August 1981.

The crew members, Captain Attia Abdel Salem al Abdali and his copilot, Ali Omar Gaddafi, were ordered to bomb the city in response to the Libyan Civil War.

Among other missions, Su-22s attacked Anti-Gaddafi positions in Bin Jawad in early March 2011 as government forces retook the town.

On 24 April 1992, in a context of diplomatic and political tensions between Peru and the US after the autocoup orchestrated by Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori 19 days before, Peruvian Su-22s attacked a Lockheed C-130H Hercules of the United States Air Force's 310th Airlift Squadron which was intercepted at sea, northwest of Lima, injuring six of the 14 crew members.

Master Sergeant Joseph C. Beard Jr. was killed when he was sucked from the cabin at 18,500 feet, and crew member Ronald Hetzel sustained severe injuries.

[19][18] During the brief 1995 Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador, two Peruvian Sukhoi Su-22s were lost, on 10 February when two Ecuadorian Air Force Mirage F1JAs, piloted by Maj. R. Banderas and Capt.

[20][21][22][23] Peru, however, denied that the two Su-22As were shot down by Mirages, stating that one was struck by Ecuadorian anti-aircraft artillery during a low flying ground-attack mission and the second crashed because of an engine fire.

The decision was hoped to have a positive impact on Polish industry, as the WZL nr 2 repair facility in Bydgoszcz would maintain the remaining aircraft under contract to the Air Force.

On 11 August 2009, Yemeni armed forces started Operation Scorched Earth in northern Yemen to fight Houthi rebels.

[45] Earlier on 2 October, the Yemeni revolutionaries said they shot down a "MiG-21" while the military insisted technical problems caused the crash.

[citation needed] This model was a test-fit of the Tumansky/Khatchaturov R-29BS-300 engine (shared with some MiG-23s), with 112.7 kN (25,335 lbf) afterburning thrust, in a bulged rear fuselage.

The internal fuel capacity was reduced and the port cannon deleted, but the aircraft retained full avionics and armament.

Test flights revealed longitudinal instability at high angles of attack which was remedied by enlarging the tail fin.

The M3 was based on the revised airframe of the Su-17UM, adding an avionics bay and an additional fuel tank in place of the rear cockpit.

Starting from the 38th batch the tailfin was raised with a radiotransparent guide and a fin was added on the underside of the tail to improve high-speed stability.

The BSPPU fire-control system was used, which would control SPPU-22-01 gun pods suspended on the wings to automatically stay on target up to a depression angle of 30°.

GMRThe Su-17M4 differed from the Su-17M3 in the removal of the inlet cone control system, which restricted the maximum allowable flight speed to Mach 1.75.

This was a Russian-French upgrade package offered for existing aircraft with modernized cockpit, HOTAS, improved avionic systems, and laser rangefinder replaced by Phazotron/Thomson-CSF radar.

[citation needed] The S-52U two-seat combat-trainer, export version of the Su-17UM, with a completely re-designed nose housing the tandem cockpits for student and instructor.