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The Sukhoi Company has completed factory flight tests of the first of four Su-30M2 multi-role strike fighter aircraft for the Russian Air Force. The long-range combat aircraft underwent the tests at the flight test station of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft production association named after Yuri Gagarin (KnAAPO), Sukhoi said. Presently, the aircraft is being readied for certification test, it said. The Russian Defence Ministry had awarded a contract to Sukhoi to supply four Su-30M2 fighters during the international aerospace show MAKS-2009. The Su-30M2 is a long-range strike aircraft based on the Su-30 fighter design optimised for precision strikes on ground and...

Indonesia Plans 180 Flankers Plus F-16s Sep 30, 2010 By Bradley Perrett BEIJING — Indonesia intends to acquire 180 Sukhoi Flankers and also to buy Lockheed Martin F-16s, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro says, setting out plans for a massive expansion of the Southeast Asian country’s air combat force. If Indonesia is serious about buying 180 Flankers, then Canberra will almost certainly fund the Royal Australian Air Force’s plan for 100 Lockheed Martin F-35s, says Andrew Davies, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Until now, there was a significant chance that Australia would buy fewer F-35s. The Sukhoi fleet...

Iceland set to embrace war-game fliers By Andrew Ward in Stockholm Gudmundur Petursson worked for years as a contractor for the US military at Keflavik airbase on the Reykjanes peninsula, south-west Iceland. Now, he is waiting for a green light from the Icelandic government to start building a 15,000 sq metre hangar for a fleet of Russian-made fighter jets. Mr Petursson, chief executive of FM Service, an Icelandic facility management company, is a cheerleader for plans by a private military training company to base up to 33 Sukhoi “flanker” jets at Keflavik for use by air forces worldwide as mock...

Aviation has rebounded from the economic crisis and the proof is in the US$ 47bn of orders signed at last week's biannual Farnborough International Airshow. While the 2008 Farnborough air show held before the start of the global economic recession saw a total of $89 billion worth of deals signed, aviation and aerospace executives were pleased with the resounding rebound. Of the total sales at the 2010 show over 20% - about US$ 10bn were inked by Russian companies and the biggest smiles were around the Sukhoi stand as its Civil Aircraft division proved the international appeal of the Sukhoi...

Iranian Army Equips Sukhoi-24 with Night Operation Systems TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian Army has equipped its fleet of Sukhoi SU-24s with newly developed night operations systems enabling the fighter jets to accomplish missions at nights, a senior Iranian Army Air Force commander announced on Monday. "Sukhoi fighter jet has been optimized by the Army Air Force experts and now has the capability to hit and destroy targets with high precision in absolute darkness," Air Force Lieutenant Commander for Operations Seyed Mohammad Alavi told FNA. These navigation and night flight systems have been mounted on all Sukhoi-24 fighter jets and they...

Russia Gets Su-35S by Year-end, Libya to Follow Jul 22, 2010 By Maxim Pyadushkin, Michael A. Taverna mike_taverna@aviationweek.com The Russian air force will take delivery of its first Su-35S fighter by the end of 2010, with a Libyan deal for the aircraft also anticipated to be concluded in the same time-frame Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan, speaking at the Farnborough International Airshow, confirms that the air force would begin to receive the latest upgrade of the Su-27 Flanker before the year is out. The Su-35S, sometime also known as the Su-27M2, matches the Flanker airframe with more powerful 117S engines, thrust...

The Russian Air Force’s in-service Su-34s designed by the Sukhoi Company have proved their superior operational capabilities and flight performance in the East-2010 military exercises held in July. In performance of the operational mission a non-stop flight was carried out from the European part of Russia to the Far East with in-flight refueling and subsequent attack as per task assigned. Soon it is planned to increase the operational capability of the aircraft by adding new aerial munitions, announced the Director General of Sukhoi Mikhail Pogosyan today at the press conference at the Farnborough International Airshow-2010. The Su-34 frontline bomber will...

Russia's fifth-generation fighters for export will be cheaper than their foreign analogues, the general director of the aviation companies Sukhoi and MiG said on Tuesday. "The price of the fifth-generation export variant is an issue for discussion and negotiation. But I can say that we believe its main advantage will be a competitive price margin," Mikhail Pogosyan said, adding that the aircraft would be significantly more expensive than Russia's fourth-generation fighter model. He said that the new-generation fighter will be presented at the 2011 MAKS air show outside Moscow. Next year you will be able to see how the fifth-generation...

Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft and Indonesia's regional carrier Kartika Airlines on Monday inked a $951 contract for the delivery of 30 Sukhoi Superjet 100s. The contract is a solid order for 30 airplanes to be shipped between 2012 and 2015. Superjet-100 is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by Sukhoi in cooperation with U.S. and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell.

The Russian Defense Ministry will buy the first 10 fifth-generation fighters between 2013 and 2015 and then another 60 after 2016, a senior military official said on Monday. Deputy Defense Minister for Arms Procurements Vladimir Popovkin said the first fighters will be purchased in 2013, while in 2015 the Air Force will start test flying them. He did not explain what will happen between 2013 and 2015. "We will start purchasing this fighter in series in 2016 and a total of 60 fighters will be bought under the state [arms procurement] program," Popovkin said. Air Force chief Col. Gen. Alexander...

FARNBOROUGH: Russia's military is hoping a national rearmament programme will start soon By Alan Dron Russia's air force and aviation industry is waiting to see what the much-heralded national rearmament programme promised by President Medvedev will yield in terms of firm aircraft orders. After years of shrinking inventories and straitened budgets, there are hopes that new equipment will at last start to find its way to units. Announcements on new equipment are expected later this year. There have been strong indications that heavy transport aircraft in the form of the Antonov An-124 and latest versions of the Ilyushin Il-76 will...

About 1,350 companies and organizations from 52 countries, including 59 Russian firms, will take part in the Farnborough-2010 Air Show, which opens near London on Monday. The Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said in a press release that 29 Russian companies will showcase about 250 military products, including combat aircraft, helicopters and air defense systems. Among most prominent Russian exhibits are Su-35 Flanker and MiG-35 Fulcrum-F multirole fighters, the Su-32 fighter-bomber (an export version of the Su-34 Fullback aircraft) and MiG-29 Fulcrum combat aircraft. Russia also plans to promote heavily its Superjet 100 medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by the...

Aerospace firm Sukhoi said Thursday that it planned to sign a “firm contract” to sell 30 SuperJets to a customer from Southeast Asia next week. The company said in a statement that the deal would be sealed at the Farnborough International Airshow, which starts July 19 and runs for a week. “This will be our biggest foreign contract for planes that have a catalogue price of $31.7 million each,” Sukhoi spokeswoman Olga Kayukova said Thursday. Sukhoi chief executive Mikhail Pogosyan said June 11 that the company will supply the first three of its SuperJet passenger airplanes this year as Russia...

Algiers has bought 28 Su-30MKA aircraft from Russia, and has options for additional 28. Lead-in training will be provided by 16 Yak 130 to be delivered from Russia. These Sukhoi fighters will operate in three squadrons positioned in Ain Baida airbase, in North-Eastern Algeria. Algeria is also reportedly was the lead export customer for the 34 Su-35 fighters to be delivered upon completion of the new fighter’s development. The Algerian Air Force prepared a new air base for the fighters. Officially opened in 2004 Ein Beida was prepared to receive the first two fighters in 2007 and is now operating...

The Russian Air Force will receive more than 60 fifth-generation fighters from 2015-16, the force commander said on Tuesday. "The Air Force will start taking delivery [of fifth-generation fighters] in 2015-16. The preliminary number is over 60," Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said. He also said the first batch of new fighters would be provided with older, "non-fifth" generation engines. In mid-June Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin observed the 16th test flight of a prototype fighter. Deputy Defense Minister for Arms Procurement Vladimir Popovkin said the Defense Ministry would purchase the first 6 to 10 aircraft after 2012, based on the...

Engines for Russia's new Superjet-100 airliner have failed to receive certification as they have several significant flaws, a business daily said on Tuesday. The Superjet-100 project is a family of medium-haul passenger aircraft developed by the Sukhoi aircraft maker in cooperation with the US and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace and Honeywell. Russian deputy industry and trade minister Denis Manturov, who heads the commission to monitor Superjet's production, prepared a report unveiling the current problems and obstacles in the way of certification, the paper said.

Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots will soon get to relish delicious snacks like halwa and sip fruit juice inside the cockpits of their combat aircraft during long distance sorties. IAF has asked the Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) to develop light food products in squeezable tubes that the pilots can consume even as they are strapped in their Sukhoi 30 MKIs, Mirage 2000s and the Jaguars. Dr A S Bawa, director of the Mysorebased DFRL told Express that they have taken up new projects for the IAF and have been developing food products like halwa, pulav and fruit juices that...

"I am a contented man. My childhood dream has been fulfilled," gushed President A P J Abdul Kalam after his 30-minute joy ride in the rear cockpit of a fighter aircraft (SU-30 MKI Flanker) on Thursday. This feat has made the President the oldest Indian to fly a fighter aircraft. As he was helped out of the aircraft by "co-pilot" Wing Commander Ajay Rathore, after it touched base at the Lohegaon Air Force station, the President's eyes gleamed with excitement. So affected was Kalam by the experience that he kept smiling with childlike glee. Clad in the flying gear of...

As part an upgrade and to evolve new tactics in aerial warfare, Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) Gwalior-based Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) will for the first time receive frontline fighters Sukhoi-30MKI by the end of this year. Gwalior is essentially a base for French Mirage-2000 fighters. TACDE is an aerial warfare training institution which devises combat tactics for its top 1% fighter pilots. The Sukhois will replace MiG-27s, which will go back to their original bases in Kalaikunda, Hashimara and Bagdogra in the east. A source said the new Sukhois being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will...

The head of Russia's MiG and Sukhoi aircraft design bureaus has stopped further export of RD-93 engines to China, citing use of the engines in MiG-29 clones. Pravda, in a report earlier this week, said Mikhial Pogosyan sent an official letter to Russia's defense export enterprise Rosoboronexport, saying he made the decision because China's FC-1 jet fighter, which has been using the RD-93 engines, is a competitor to the MiG-29. "Russian engineers are facing a tough choice: either to refuse from the contract (with China) worth $3.75 billion or lose African and Asian markets," Pravda wrote. "China's FC-1 does not...