© UAC Press Office/TASS
The United Aircraft Corporation manufactured and delivered a batch of new Su-30SM2 fighter jets and Yak-130 combat trainers to the Defense Ministry, the Russian government said in a statement released on Monday.
"The Irkutsk Aviation Plant of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of the state corporation Rostec) has manufactured and delivered new Su-30SM2 fighters and Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft to the Defense Ministry of Russia," the statement reads.
The Cabinet noted that the Su-30SM2 is an upgrade of the planes that are in service with the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Russian Navy.
"The new aircraft have received sophisticated onboard radio-electronic equipment. The upgrade carried out on an assignment from the Russian Defense Ministry has boosted the aircraft’s combat capabilities. In particular, the aerial target detection and identification range has been increased," the government explained, adding that the new fighters were capable of delivering strikes against aerial, ground and naval targets with new smart weapons from a distance of several hundred kilometers.
The Yak-130 two-seat combat trainer is used for the basic and advanced training of pilots to learn to operate modern and state-of-the-art combat aircraft, including generation 4++ and fifth-generation fighters.
Earlier in February 2022, the Russian Su-30SM2 fighter was upgraded to control combat drones.
Russia’s Su-30SM2 naval fighters will be re-configured with a system to control attack drones mid-air, Izvestia revealed, citing sources.
This year, the Russian Navy has inducted four multirole SM2s, an upgrade on the Su-30SM that boasts a more powerful engine, radar, and “smart weapons.”
A “communication complex” is being built to allow the two-seat aircraft to communicate with and direct a range of unmanned aerial aircraft, including the S-70 Okhotnik.
Military analyst Vladislav Shurygin told Izvestia that the SM2’s co-pilot could interact with the drone and provide it with target coordinates while the pilot is flying the aircraft. He ruled out the pilot steering the unmanned platform.
Shurygin said that the wingman drones could “reconnoiter ground targets for aircraft strikes and evaluate the results,” adding that drones with powerful radars could work as the “eyes and ears” of the aircraft, helping it control the situation from hundreds of kilometers away.
Additional roles include marine patrol and penetrating well-defended targets without risk to the aircraft.
The number of transferred aircraft is not specified.
"As part of Rostec, we continue to fulfill our obligations under the state defense order. Today, another batch of vehicles is in production, which will be handed over to the customer by the end of the year," UAC CEO Yuri Slyusar is quoted by the government as saying.
© Sputnik / Evgeny Odinokov / Go to the mediabank
"In the light of the current tasks, the industry is acting in solidarity with the Ministry of Defense. The Coordinating Council under the government controls the provision of the needs of the Armed Forces for equipment and compliance with the delivery deadlines," Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said.
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