Russian multipurpose Su-30SM fighters will be replaced with engines for the AL-41F-1S from the Su-35S, Izvestia reports, citing sources in the Ministry of Defense and the military-industrial complex.
The first aircraft with updated engines should take off by the end of 2020. Other improvements to the fighter include avionics, optics, radar, and surveillance systems.
The publication notes that the Su-30SM with updated avionics and weapons is called the Su-30SM1, and with engines that are additionally unified with the Su-35S – the Su-30SM2.
“A more powerful engine from a Su-35 will give a larger thrust reserve. And this means an increased amount of ammunition and equipment that the aircraft can have on board, “- said honored test pilot Colonel Igor Malikov.
In August, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that the Russian Armed Forces would sign an agreement on the purchase of 46 Su-30SM2 and Yak-130 aircraft by the end of this year.
In the same month, the Polish portal Defense24 wrote that Russian Su-30SM fighters, after receiving a heavy air-to-surface missile based on the Kh-32 liquid-propellant hypersonic missile, would significantly increase their own power.
In July, Yevgeny Semivelichenko, Managing Director of the Ufa Engine-Building Production Association, said that a universal engine was being created in Russia that could be installed on fourth-generation fighters Su-27, Su-30 and Su-35.
