The modernized Su-30SM2 fighter will make its first flight by the end of 2020. The aircraft will be powered up with Su-35s AL-41F1S engine “product 117S”. 

AL-41F-1S has all-aspect thrust vector control. The service life of the aircraft engine is two times higher than that of the Saturn AL-31FP, Su-30’s former power plant.

The new Su-30SM2's onboard electronics, radar, optical location station will be improved, and the range of weapons will be expanded. According to the plans of the Ministry of Defence, the entire fleet of Su-30SM fighters will be upgraded to the level of the Su-2SM30. By the end of the year, the military department intends to sign a contract for the supply of 21 new-built Su-30SM2 fighters.

“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 plane can have on board,” Izvestia quotes the words of Honoured Test Pilot Colonel Igor Malik.

Now the Su-30SM, along with the Su-35S, is the basis of the fighter fleet of the Russian Aerospace Forces. In total, more than 90 such aircraft were handed over to the Aerospace Forces.

The Su-30SM aircraft is its Russified version, and in a broad sense, it is a development of the Soviet Su-27. On twelve pylons, the Su-30SM can carry up to 8,000 kilograms of combat load. The fighter has a wide range of weapons, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles and guided bombs.