Plane spotters catch Armenia’s future SU-30SMs performing test flight in Russia
Russian plane spotters have taken a glimpse of a SU-30SM fighter jet which is expected to re-equip the Armenian Air Force soon as part of a larger batch of supplies of these 4+ generation gunships.
Plane spotting website NskPlanes shared photos of an airborne SU-30SM, painted in light blue with the word HAYASTAN (Armenia) near its tail, presumably operating a test flight ahead of delivery.
In an earlier interview, Armenia’s Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan had said that they want to buy 12 SU-30SM fighter jets. The aircrafts are expected to be delivered within two months.
The Sukhoi Su-30 is a Russian-made twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions.
The Su-30SM (SM for Serial, Modernized) is considered a 4+ generation fighter jet. The aircraft has been upgraded for radar, radio communications systems, friend-or-foe identification system, ejection seats, weapons, and other aircraft systems.
It has frontal horizontal fins and steerable thrusters for supermaneuverability.
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 8000 kg.
