Russia's Western Military District air regiment receives new Su-30SMs.

Four Sukhoi Su-30SM (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) multipurpose fighter jets were delivered to a Russian Air Force's Western Military District air regiment based near Kursk in southwest Russia in late April, the district’s press office said.

A VVS Su-30SM fighter jet
(Credit: Russian Ministry of Defense)

"The Western Military District’s air regiment stationed in the Kursk Region has received the first batch of 4+ generation Su-30SM multipurpose fighter jets this year," the press office said.

"The four planes were accepted at the manufacturing plant in Irkutsk [in East Siberia] and performed a flight, covering a distance of more than 5,000 kilometers [3,107 miles]," the press office added.

According to the press office, the planes will replace Mikoyan MiG-29SMT (Fulcrum) fighter jets.

The Su-30SM multirole two-seat fighter jet is a further derivative of the Su-30MKI plane and the latest version of the baseline Su-30 aircraft.

The Su-30SM plane’s weapons and radar, communications and identification friend-or-foe systems have been improved to meet the Russian Defense Ministry’s requirements.

The first contracts for the delivery of Su-30SM fighter jets to Russia’s Armed Forces were signed in 2012.

The Su-30SM is designed to gain air supremacy, block a simulated enemy’s airfields at long range and eliminate ground, aerial and seaborne targets.

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