Myanmar to receive Russian Su-30SM fighter jets.

BANGKOK, September 22. /TASS-DEFENSE/. Myanmar will receive several new Russian Su-30SM multirole fighter jets soon, Deputy Minister of Information of Myanmar Zaw Min Tun said.

Follow Air Recognition on Google News at this link

Su-30SME performing its maiden flight without its final livery and markings (Picture source: Vinod)

The official said that Prime Minster of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing inspected the production and trials of the aircraft at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant in Siberia during a visit to Russia.

“They all will be delivered soon,” the Irrawaddy news portal quoted Zaw Min Tun as saying.

According to the report, the fighters worth $204 million were produced for Myanmar under a contract signed in 2018. The first two planes were delivered in March, the remaining four are due in the near future.

Sukhoi Su-30SME

Su-30SME is the export version of the Su-30SM, with foreign avionics of other Su-30MKI derivatives replaced with Russian systems, and the possible downgrade of certain systems such as the radar modes and fire control. It was unveiled at the Singapore Airshow 2016, and has been offered to Iran, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, and Myanmar.

Su-30SM (SM for Serijnyi Modernizirovannyi, Serial Modernized. NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) is a specialised version of the thrust-vectoring Su-30MKI for the Russian Air Force, produced by the Irkut Corporation. The Su-30SM is considered a 4+ generation fighter jet. The aircraft has been upgraded according to Russian military requirements for radar, radio communications systems, friend-or-foe identification system, ejection seats, weapons, and other aircraft systems. It is equipped with the N011M Bars radar with a maximum detection range 400 km, search range 200 km using a phased array antenna, frontal horizontal fins and steerable thrusters for supermaneuverability as well as with wide-angle HUD.

The aircraft can be used to gain air supremacy same as for targeting adversary on the ground using wide range of weapons including air-to-air, air-to-surface and guided and unguided bombs with total weapons weight up to 8,000 kg. It is also equipped with the one-barrel, 30 mm GSh-30-1 autocannon. To ensure operations at major distances from airfield, the ability of in-flight refueling (IFR) is included. Besides that, for electronic warfare purposes two SAP-518 jamming pods can be fitted on the wing tips. The SAP-518 is designed to protect the aircraft from various air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles by creating false targets, jamming missile's guidance, enemy aircraft radars or ground and seaborne air defence.

© Copyright 2022 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.