SU-30
JETS - DEFENCE & SECURITY
News:
DAC clears procurement of
12 SU-30 jets among proposals worth ₹45,000 crore
What's
in the news?
● Clearing
a long pending deal, the Defence Acquisition Council approved procurement of 12
SU-30MKI jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
● The
IAF has been pushing for additional Sukhoi as well 21 Mig-29s to arrest its
falling fighter strength before newer inductions come in.
Key
takeaways:
● India has contracted 272 Su-30s from
Russia in batches, majority of which were assembled in India
by HAL and around 11 jets were lost over the years.
Backdrop:
● Sukhoi
30 MKI is the backbone of the Indian Air
Force. As of January 2020, India operates around 260 Sukhoi 30 MKI fighter
jets
● The
Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a multirole combat
fighter aircraft jointly developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau and
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Range
– 3000 Km.
Maximum
Speed – Mach 2.
Other
countries with Sukhoi-30:
● Apart
from the Russian and Indian Air Force, the other users of Sukhoi-30 aircraft
are Algeria, China, Vietnam, Venezuela,
Malaysia.
Integration
of Su-30 MKI and BrahMos:
● All
weather Brahmos gives the Sukhoi a combat radius of almost 1,500 km without mid-air refuelling.
● Brahmos
is the heaviest weapon to be deployed on Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft, with a
weight of 2.5 tonnes.
● BrahMos
missile is a supersonic cruise missile which features Indian propulsion system,
airframe, power supply, and other major indigenous components.