Vietnam orders Yak-130 combat training jets.

Vietnam has signed a $ 350 million deal to purchase a dozen combat training aircraft from Russia. The Russian aircraft manufacturer Yakovlev won the contract for the new training jet for the Vietnamese air force with its Yak-130. The deal was finalized late last year, but has just been formalized.

 Yak-130 deploying flares (Picture source: Oleg V. Belyakov)

The Yakovlev Yak-130 is a russian made subsonic two-seat new-generation aircraft intended for basic and advanced flight training of air school trainee pilots to fly fourth- and fifth-generation combat aircraft, for maintaining flying skills of pilot personnel of regular air units, and flying combat missions in local armed conflicts.

With this purchase, Vietnam will become the sixth country to import the Yak-130.