Russian Defense Ministry has signed a contract for the delivery of 92 Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers 0203121.

The Ministry will take delivery of 10 Su-34s in 2012, all of them to be deployed in the Western Military District. Last year six fighter-bombers were delivered to the Air Force. These come under an initial contract for 32 Su-34s.

At present the Air Force has 12 Su-34s.

Factoring in the new contract, the Air Force will have a total of 124 Su-34s.

The ministry previously said a total of 70 Su-34s will be delivered by 2015.

Commenting on the deal, Douglas Barrie, air warfare specialist at International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said “the Su-34 - previously known as the Su-27IB - has been long in the gestation.”

“The program began in the 1980s and has suffered as a result of funding problems. It is entering service well over a decade after it was envisaged originally to be replacing the Su-24 Fencer.”

However the Su-34 will - with the appropriate avionic and weapons systems - provide the air force with a capable long range strike platform, with considerably more punch than the Su-24, he said.

“Work is continuing to integrate modern air-to-surface weaponry now in development in Russia on the Su-34, with trials being carried out at the air force test center at Akhtubinsk.”

The news of the contract comes a week after Russia partially resumed flights of Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers after one of them crashed in Russia’s Urals.

All Su-24s were grounded after the crash, in the woods of the Kurgan region during a routine flight on February 13. Both pilots ejected safely. The crash was the third of a Su-24 in Russia over the last four months. The two previous crashes occurred in October and December 2011.

It has been in service with the Russian Air Force since the mid-1970s. However, in recent years Russia has gradually been phasing out the planes, which have a patchy safety record.

The Defense Ministry earlier said the Air Force will procure over 1,500 new aircraft by 2020.

Russia started the full-scale production of Su-34s in 2008 at a Novosibirsk-based aircraft-manufacturing plant, a subsidiary of the Sukhoi Aircraft Holding.

Designed by Sukhoi, the $36-million Su-34 fighter-bomber is a two-seat strike aircraft fitted with twin AL-31MF afterburner turbojet engines.

It is designed to deliver high-precision strikes on heavily-defended targets under any weather conditions, day or night, and is equipped with a 30-mm GSh-301 cannon, up to 12 Alamo or Archer AAMs, ASMs, and bombs.