ASTANA – The Kazakh Air Force has taken delivery of four Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker C 4++ fighter aircraft from Irkut Corporation, part of the Sukhoi Group from Irkutsk, Russia. The fighters were transferred at Taldykorgan air base in southern Kazakhstan and will participate in the aviation show during the city’s Armed Forces Day and 70th anniversary Victory Day parade on May 7, reported the Kazakh Ministry of Defence press office.
“Today, the aviation fleet of the Kazakhstan Armed Forces has received up-to-date high manoeuvrable Su-30SM fighters. This increases the capacity of the Air Forces of Kazakhstan. In addition, the flying squad is able to reach a higher level of competence thanks to the technical features of the aircraft. The Su-30SM will significantly increase the security of the Kazakhstan airspace,” said Kazakh Air Force Major General Nurlan Ormanbetov, as quoted by the press office.
The new twin-engine, multifunctional two-seat fighters are based on the Su-27 model. The flanker has integrated aerodynamic configuration and vectoring control ability, giving the plane a high level of manoeuvrability and unique take-off and landing characteristics. It is equipped with a digital fly-by-wire system and performs highly advanced manoeuvres, including the Pugachev’s Cobra and the tail slide. The Su-30SM is a multi-role fighter aircraft developed by Sukhoi Design Bureau for the Russian Air Force and is an advanced derivative of the Su-30MK combat aircraft family. The Su-30SM is capable of carrying an advanced weapons payload weighing up to eight tonnes. The fighter can be equipped with a machine gun, bombs, air-to-air missiles and Oniks (Yakhont) supersonic anti-ship and land attack missiles, as reported by the Airrecognition website.
At the present time, the Kazakhstan Air Force currently fields MiG-27 Flogger, Su-25 Frogfoot, MiG-31 Foxhound, Su-27 Flanker, and MiG-29 Fulcrum aircraft, which were inherited from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, according to the ISH Jane’s 360 website.
In March, the Ministry of Defence press office reported that a group of pilots and technicians returned to military units of the Kazakhstan Air Force from the Irkutsk Aviation Plant, where they passed theoretical retraining at the Russian enterprise to prepare for operation of Su-30SM fighters. Kazakhstan pilots and technicians passed the full training course and studied the fighter’s characteristics, performance, technological base and equipment.
