Russian Baltic Fleet’s aviation group tests newest Sukhoi-30SM fighter jet
The Baltic Fleet’s airbase in the Kaliningrad Region has received the first multirole fighter Sukhoi-30SM.
"The first Sukhoi-30SM has made a landing at the airdrome in Chernyakhovsk to have joined a squadron of the Baltic Fleet’s aviation group," the fleet’s spokesman Roman Martov has said. The plane arrived from an aircraft-building plant in Irkutsk, informs Tass agency.
Several more fighters of that type will become organic to the Baltic Sea Fleet’s aviation in 2017.
The first Sukhoi-30SM crews have undergone retraining at a center in Yeisk. Now they will be able to share experience with their colleagues on site.
The Sukhoi-30SM is the latest upgraded configuration of the multirole heavy fighter Sukhoi-30 (generation 4+). It boasts high maneuverability, a phased array antenna radar, thrust vector control, and front horizontal stabilizers. It is capable of carrying advanced high accuracy weapons (both air-to-air and air-to-surface types).
The Sukhoi-30SM can fly up to 3,000 kilometers without refueling and extra tanks.