The Sukhoi Su-30 (Cyrillic: Сухой Су-30) (NATO reporting name Flanker-C) is a twin-engine, two-seat military aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions.
The Su-30 started out as an internal development project in the Sukhoi Su-27 family by Sukhoi. The design plan was revamped and the name was made official by the Russian Defense Ministry in 1996. Of the Flanker family, only the Su-27, Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35 have been ordered into serial production by the Defense Ministry. All the others, such as Su-37, were prototypes.
The Su-30 has two distinct version branches, manufactured by competing organisations: KnAAPO and the Irkut Corporation, both of which come under the Sukhoi group's umbrella. KnAAPO manufactures the Su-30MKK and the Su-30MK2, which were designed for and sold to China, and later Indonesia and Vietnam. Due to KnAAPO's involvement from the early stages of developing Su-35, these are basically a two-seat version of the mid-1990s Su-35. The Chinese chose an older but lighter radar so the canards could be omitted in return for increased payload. It is a dedicated strike fighter designed for long-range air-to-surface attack missions, similar to the American F-15E.[2]
Irkut traditionally served the Soviet Air Defense
and, in the early years of Flanker development, was given the
responsibility of manufacturing the Su-27UB, the two-seat trainer
version of the Su-27. When India showed interests in the Su-30, Irkut
offered the multirole Su-30MKI, which originated as the Su-27UB
modified with avionics appropriate for fighters. Along with its
ground-attack capabilities, the series adds features for the
air-superiority role, such as thrust-vectoring, forward canards and a
long-range phase-array radar. Its derivatives include the Su-30MKM, MKA
and MKV for Malaysia, Algeria and Venezuela, respectively. The Russian
Air Force is in talks to buy 28 to 40 Su-30 C fighters from Sukhoi's
Irkut production facility.[3]
The Su-30 started out as an internal development project in the Sukhoi Su-27 family by Sukhoi. The design plan was revamped and the name was made official by the Russian Defense Ministry in 1996. Of the Flanker family, only the Su-27, Su-30, Su-34 and Su-35 have been ordered into serial production by the Defense Ministry. All the others, such as Su-37, were prototypes.
The Su-30 has two distinct version branches, manufactured by competing organisations: KnAAPO and the Irkut Corporation, both of which come under the Sukhoi group's umbrella. KnAAPO manufactures the Su-30MKK and the Su-30MK2, which were designed for and sold to China, and later Indonesia and Vietnam. Due to KnAAPO's involvement from the early stages of developing Su-35, these are basically a two-seat version of the mid-1990s Su-35. The Chinese chose an older but lighter radar so the canards could be omitted in return for increased payload. It is a dedicated strike fighter designed for long-range air-to-surface attack missions, similar to the American F-15E.[2]
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