Russian Black Sea Fleet reinforced with 3 super-maneuverable fighters
MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The Russian Black Sea Fleet aviation has been reinforced with three Sukhoi Su-30SM multi-role fighter jets, fleet spokesman Vyacheslav Trukhachev said on Monday.
"Three Sukhoi Su-30SM multi-role super-maneuverable fighters have arrived at the Saki airfield, their permanent base. The fighters have joined the separate seaborne attack aircraft regiment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet," he said.
The Sukhoi Su-30SM was designed by Sukhoi Company. It is mass-produced at the Irkutsk Aircraft Plant. The fighters have been supplied to the Black Sea Fleet aviation under the program of fleet aircraft modernization, Trukhachev said.
Su-30SM crews have been coached at the seaborne aviation training center of the Russian Navy in Yeisk and are preparing for flights under the commissioning program, he said.
The Su-30SM is the latest modification of Russia's Su-30 multi-role heavy fighter of generation 4+ featuring super-maneuverability, a radar system with a phased antenna array, thrust-vectoring engines, and a horizontal canard. The plane can carry modern and prospective precision-guidance weapons of the air-to-air and air-to-surface type.
It is built to win air superiority, to destroy airborne targets day and night in any weather, to block hostile airfields in the rear, and to act against land and seaborne targets. The delivery of those aircraft to the Russian Aerospace Forces began in 2012, and the Navy aviation received its first Su-30SM in 2014.
Interfax reported earlier that the Black Sea Fleet was being provided with new ships, submarines, armaments and military hardware.
According to the Russian military, a self-sufficient group of forces has been created in Crimea. Interfax reported the deployment of S-400 air defense systems on the peninsula.