Algeria has ordered 14 Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets from Russia’s Irkut, which will augment the 44 Su-30MKs the country has in service.
RIA Novosti on Friday quoted Sergei Chemezov, the head of Russian defence technology holding company Rostic, as saying the contract was signed near the beginning of this year. Speaking at the 2015 Russian Arms Expo in Nizhny Tagil, he said the Algerian aircraft will be delivered in 2016 and 2017. Last week the Russian military ordered eight Su-30SM fighters.
Algeria received 28 Su-30s as part of a 2006 contract and another 16 under a 2010 contract. It appears the 16 aircraft in the second batch were delivered to replace 15 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29SMT fighters Algeria returned to Russia after declaring them “defective.”
The Su-30MKA operated by Algeria is a specialised variant of the Su-30MK fitted with a mix of French and Russian avionics. The former includes a head-up and multifunction displays manufactured by the Thales Group and Sagem of France.
The Su-30 is a twin-engine, multi-role military aircraft developed by from the Sukhoi Su-27UB. It is a two-seat, dual-role fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions introduced into operational service in 1996.
The primary combat aircraft in Algeria’s Air Force are a dozen MiG-25s, 23 MiG-29C/UBs and around 34 Su-24M/MKs.
Algeria is expanding its Air Force and in June took delivery of the first of six Mi-26T2 helicopters from Russia and has ordered another eight of the type. The North African country has also ordered 42 Mi-28NE attack helicopters, the first of which flew at the manufacturer’s Rostov plant in early December 2014.
Algeria’s Su-30s are being manufactured by Irkut, owned by the United Aircraft Corporation holding company.
