IRKUTSK. May 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The demonstration of the first two Su-30MKM fighters to be shipped to Malaysia in June under the supply contract was held in Irkutsk.
The parties to the contract signed the paper certifying that the aircraft are ready to be rolled out on Thursday, Vladimir Kovalkov, the Director of the Irkutsk aircraft manufacturing plant which is a division of the Irkut corporation, said.
The fighters will be airlifted to Malaysia with a Ruslan transport aircraft in early June, where acceptance certificate will be issued by the Malaysian Air Force, he said.
Six fighters are almost ready to be delivered to Malaysia under the contract, he said.
The $1.5 billion contract provides for 18 Su-30MKM multirole fighters to be shipped to Malaysia.
Under the contract, the major bulk of the aircraft will be delivered to the client in 2007, while the rest will follow in 2008.
Malaysia opted for the Su-30MKM during the contest in 2003, in which also U.S. F-18 Super Hornet took part. The contract for the supply of 18 aircraft was signed in August that year. Before that Malaysia had mostly western planes in its inventories, but also operated some MiG-29 fighters that earned a very good reputation.
The Su-30MKM is the latest version of the renowned Su-3)MKI, a large batch of which was supplied by Irkut to India in 2002-2004 (currently Indian HAL is building them on license). The success of operation in India to a high extent determined the Malaysian choice, Rosoboronexport said.
The Su-30MKM was developed by the Sukhoi design bureau on the basis of the super-agile Su-30MKI. It features the same airframe, the most advanced thrust vectored engine and the state-of-the-art digital control system. The MKM has a slight difference from the MKI in avionics. For instance, French THALES supplied the head up display for the aircraft, as well as the NAVFLIR forward-looking infrared navigation system and the LPD Damocles containerized laser illumination system. The aircraft is also equipped with illumination warning and missile proximity sensors of South African AVITRONICS.
The avionics also includes the electronic counter-countermeasure pack, a phased array radar which provides the aircraft will a capability to simultaneously track 15 and attack four targets, and a optical sight with lager range finder - all supplied by leading Russian firms.
The integration of avionics was carried out in cooperation with the design team of the Malaysian Royal Air Force, which is permanently stationed in Moscow.