MOSCOW. March 6 (Interfax) - Russian Sukhoi Su-30SM2 fighter jets have practiced bombing and artillery strikes on ground targets at a firing range in the eastern part of the Kaliningrad region, the Baltic Fleet said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The planes performed over 10 sorties to use aircraft weapons during the exercise. The flights involved about 10 flight crews and more than 50 engineering and technical personnel," it said.
"The strikes were carried out from various altitudes on a target field at an aviation firing range in the eastern part of the Kaliningrad region," the statement said.
The exercise was routine, with the planes training at daytime and night flights, it said.
"The pilots flew to designated areas, reconnoitered the situation on the ground, and conducted targeted bombing and artillery strikes on full-size targets simulating command posts, engineering fortifications, personnel and hardware of a mock enemy using P-50T heat-resistant practice bombs and 30mm artillery shells," the fleet press service said.
According to official data, the Su-30SM (serial modernized) is a multipurpose fourth generation fighter jet. It was developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau and is in serial production at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant of Irkut Corporation (both companies are part of United Aircraft Corporation, UAC). The plane is designed to gain air superiority, block enemy airfields at big depths, and destroy air, ground and sea targets, including at night and in difficult weather conditions.
According to the UAC website, Su-30SM2 fighter jet is a further upgrade of Su-30SM used by the Aerospace Forces and the Russian Navy's aviation. The modernized aircraft received an improved set of avionics and additional combat capabilities with increased target detection and identification range. According to UAC, the plane is equipped with new high-precision weapons to hit air, ground and sea targets at a range of several hundreds of kilometers.