A fleet of Su-30MKI jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a strategic mission over the south-western region of the Indian Ocean region for eight hours, demonstrating their operational prowess and capability to carry out long-range missions.
The operation has been kept discreet with the IAF not disclosing any the details of the operation carried out. Also, the number of aircraft involved in the operation was not disclosed.
About Su-30MKI
The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia’s Sukhoi and built under licence by India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.
The IAF has nearly 260 Su-30MKIs in its inventory.
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 21.935 m (72 ft 0 in)
- Wingspan: 14.7 m (48 ft 3 in)
- Height: 6.36 m (20 ft 10 in)
- Wing area: 62 m2 (670 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 18,400 kg (40,565 lb)
- Gross weight: 26,090 kg (57,519 lb) (typical mission weight)
- Max takeoff weight: 38,800 kg (85,539 lb)
- Fuel capacity: 9640 kg (internal)
- Powerplant: 2 × Lyulka AL-31FP afterburning turbofan engines, 123 kN (28,000 lbf) with afterburner
Armament
- Guns: 1 × 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 autocannon
- Hardpoints: 12 hardpoints (2 × wing-tip AAM launch rails, 6 × pylons under-wing, 2 × pylon under-engine nacelles, and 2 × pylons in tandem in the “arch” between the engines. It can be increased to 14 using multiple ejector racks.) with a capacity of up to 8,130 kg (17,920 lb), with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 4 × S-8; 4 × S-13
Missiles:
Air-to-air missiles:
- 10 × R-77
- 10 × I-Derby ER
- 10 × Astra Mk1
- 6 × R-27ER/ET
- 2 × R-27R/T
- 6 × R-73
- 3 × K-100
- MICA (tested successfully)
Air-to-surface missiles:
- 3 × Kh-59ME
- 4 × Rampage (missile)
- 6 × Kh-29T/L
- 2 × Nirbhay (Future)
Anti-ship missiles:
- 3 × Kh-59MK
- 4 × Kh-35
- 6 × Kh-31A
- 1 x BrahMos
Anti-radiation missiles:
- 6 × Rudram-1
- 6 × Kh-31P
Bombs:
- 8 × KAB-500L laser-guided bombs
- 3 × KAB-1500L laser-guided bombs
- 3 × Sudarshan laser-guided bombs
- 8 × FAB-500T bombs
- 28 × OFAB-250-270 bombs
- 32 × OFAB-100-120 bombs
- Spice 2000 bombs
- 8 × RBK-500 cluster bombs
- 20 × DRDO SAAW glide bombs
- 3 × DRDO Glide Bombs
Other
- Litening targeting pod
- El/M-2060P airborne synthetic aperture radar reconnaissance pod
- KNIRTI SAP-518 EW pod
- Chaffs / flare
- Buddy-buddy refuelling pod
Avionics
- Bars passive electronically scanned array radar
- EL/M-8222 jammer
- DRDO Tarang MK.II radar warning receiver
- OLS-30 laser-optical infra-red search and track
Specification Source: Wikipedia
