VLADIMIR KARNOZOV / MOSCOW
Contract is first step in agreement calling for 24 Sukhoi multirole fighters over 10 years
Russia and Vietnam have agreeda $110 million deal over the sale of four Su-30MKK twin-seat multirole fighters.
The deal, signed on 3 December, includes options for eight more aircraft. Up to 30% of the value will be paid in Vietnamese goods. The expected contract will be the first step in the agreement between Hanoi and Moscow signed in 1999 calling for a total of 24 Sukhoi fighters worth $1 billion to be delivered in several batches during the current decade.
Vietnamese aircraft are similar to the customised Chinese Su-30MKK configuration that, unlike the Indian Su-30MKI, has neither canards nor thrust-vectoring, while offering extended ground-attack capability with precision-guided munitions using the upgraded N-001 ground-mapping radar. Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian Su-30MKKs are produced at Sukhoi's KnAAPO plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, while Indian and Malaysian Su-30MKI/MKMs are made at NPK Irkut's Irkutsk Aircraft Production Organisation factory.
In 1994 Vietnam purchased five single-seat Su-27SKs and one Su-27 two-seat training aircraft. In 1997, it placed a follow-on order for two more Su-27SKs and four Su-27UBKs. The latter order, however, was revised for four Su-27SKs and two Su-27UBKs after the Antonov An-124-100 carrying two Su-27UBKs crashed on take-off from the IAPO airfield on 6 December 1997.
Vietnam is negotiating mid-life upgrades of its older Su-27-series fighters with the aim of extending their ground-attack capability. NPK Irkut offered an upgrade solution based on the Su-30KN featuring the NIIP Pero passive phased-array radar and Oko datalink, enabling ground surveillance and mapping functions for the standard N-001 radar. Vietnam is more likely to select an upgrade based on the Su-27SMvariant offered to the Russian air force or an intermediate variant using hardware and software developed for Su-30MKK and Su-30MK2 export fighters.
Source: Flight International
