Russia Fields Latest Su-30SM2 Fighters To Naval Aviation As Strikes Increase Over Ukraine.

Russia has delivered a fresh batch of Su-30SM2 multirole fighters to its Naval Aviation forces, marking the first fleet delivery publicly reported in 2025. The move adds more long-range strike capacity at a time when Moscow leans on heavy fighters to pressure Ukrainian air defenses and coastal infrastructure.

The United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a Russian state-owned aircraft conglomerate, announced on November 21, 2025, that Rostec’s United Aircraft Corporation delivered a new batch of Su-30SM2 multirole fighters to the Russian Ministry of Defense under the state defense order. Official imagery from the handover shows aircraft in standard blue-gray naval camouflage with the St Andrew flag on the fuselage, confirming their assignment to Russian Naval Aviation rather than the Aerospace Forces. This is the first publicly reported Su-30SM2 delivery to the fleet in 2025 and follows earlier batches that went to Baltic Fleet units before the program briefly disappeared from the spotlight. The timing is highly significant, coming as Russia leans heavily on long-range aviation to sustain pressure on Ukraine’s air defenses and critical infrastructure.
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The Su-30SM2 is Russia's latest naval multirole fighter, combining AL-41F-1S engines, Irbis-E long-range radar, and upgraded electronic warfare with an 8-ton weapons load for extended patrol, interception, and stand-off strike missions (Picture source: Soldar).

The Su-30SM2 is a deep modernization of the familiar Su-30SM, preserving the two-seat airframe and canard layout while integrating key systems from the Su-35. The aircraft uses AL 41F 1S turbofan engines with increased thrust and improved reliability, which give the naval Su-30 greater endurance on maritime patrols and more energy in high altitude missile launches. A typical maximum takeoff weight of around 34.5 tons, internal fuel of roughly 9.6 tons, and a combat payload near 8 tons put it at the heavy end of the fighter spectrum. Top speed remains about Mach 2 at altitude, with a service ceiling above 17 kilometers, but the main advances are in sensors and weapons management rather than raw performance.

At the center of the upgrade is the Irbis-E passive electronically scanned radar, inherited from the Su-35 and adapted for the Su-30SM2’s mission profile. Russian sources claim detection ranges on the order of several hundred kilometers against fighter-sized targets, with the ability to track dozens of contacts and engage several simultaneously. A modernized electro-optical sight, updated cockpit with large color displays, and improved data links allow the two-person crew to split workload between long-range air combat management and navigation or strike planning. The electronic warfare suite has also been refreshed, with an evolved Khibiny family system and digital jammers designed to complicate Western radar missiles and ground-based air defenses, including systems of the Patriot class that Russia claims to have engaged in Ukraine.

Weapon integration reflects the aircraft’s role as a multirole missile carrier for shore-based Naval Aviation. In the air-to-air role, the Su-30SM2 can carry short and medium-range missiles such as R-73 and R-77 1, and is reported to be compatible with the very long-range R-37 M intended to threaten tankers and airborne early warning platforms far from Russian airspace. For strike missions, it can employ Kh 31 anti-ship and anti-radar missiles, Kh 29 and Kh 59 series tactical missiles, and guided bombs, including the KAB 250 family, alongside classic unguided bombs and rockets for lower cost sorties. In practice, this lets Russian planners use the Su-30SM2 as a flexible platform that can move from hunting Ukrainian drones and unmanned surface craft over the Black Sea to launching stand-off strikes against infrastructure deep inside Ukraine while remaining under the cover of Russian air defense.

The arrival of new Su-30SM2s strengthens Russian Naval Aviation at a moment when the maritime flanks of the war are becoming more contested. Units in Kaliningrad and around the Black Sea already rely on the Su-30 family to patrol approaches, escort maritime patrol aircraft, and deliver guided munitions from medium altitude outside the effective envelope of many Ukrainian systems. Western defense analysts generally assess that Russia has shifted toward a pattern in which heavy fighters act as missile trucks firing precision weapons from within Russian or Crimean airspace, trading risk in the terminal phase of the weapon for greater survivability of the aircraft. Additional Su-30SM2 airframes mean more radar coverage along the coasts, more launch platforms for long-range missiles, and more pressure on any future Ukrainian F-16 deployment that must operate under the dome of Russian long-range sensors.

The contract story behind these aircraft shows how Moscow is trying to rationalize its fighter fleet under sanctions. After the first Su-30SMs entered service around 2013, the Ministry of Defense decided in the late 2010s to converge systems with the Su-35 to simplify logistics and production. A major contract signed around 2020 reportedly funded 21 Su-30SM2s alongside Yak 130 trainers, and parallel programs aim to retrofit roughly 110 earlier Su-30SM airframes to the new standard by the middle of the decade. Irkutsk Aviation Plant is under pressure to maintain this tempo while coping with restricted access to imported components, which makes the continuation of deliveries in 2025 a sign that Russia has at least partially stabilized its supply chain for engines, avionics, and onboard computers.

In comparative naval terms, the Su-30SM2 occupies a different niche than Western carrier-capable fighters such as the F/A-18E Super Hornet or Rafale M. Those aircraft are lighter and optimized for catapult and arrested recovery on carriers, and they field active electronically scanned radars and highly integrated sensor fusion. The Russian jet, which operates from shore rather than from carriers in routine missions, trades that tight carrier integration for greater fuel capacity and payload, making it well-suited as a long-range maritime strike and air defense platform over enclosed seas. The Irbis radar’s PESA architecture is less advanced than Western AESA sets in some respects, but the combination of a large antenna, high power output, and a two-person crew still makes the Su-30SM2 a formidable player in beyond visual range engagements over water.

Beyond Russia, Belarus has emerged as the first confirmed foreign operator of the Su-30SM2 standard, receiving upgraded aircraft that build on an earlier order for Su-30SMs. Other users of the Su-30 family, including India with the Su-30MKI, Algeria with the Su-30MKA, Malaysia with the Su-30MKM, and China with the Su-30MKK and MK2, field variants that differ in radar and avionics but share the same basic airframe. In theory, these fleets could adopt elements of the SM2 package over time, yet in practice, geopolitical tensions, local industrial upgrades, and divergent mission requirements make a one-to-one alignment unlikely. For now, the Su-30SM2 remains a primarily Russian solution to Russian operational problems, centered on sustaining a high tempo of long-range missions around NATO borders and over Ukraine. As more of these aircraft reach Naval Aviation units through 2025 and 2026, Ukrainian planners and NATO maritime commanders will have to account for a denser belt of Russian sensors and missiles along the Baltic and Black Sea arcs.