The Sukhoi Su-30MKM (

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

: Flanker-H) is a supermaneuverable fighter of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. It is a variant of the Su-30 series fighters, with many significant improvements over the original Su-30MK export version. The Su-30MKM was developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau and is based on the Su-30MKI of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. Both aircraft have common

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

thrust vectoring Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket, or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the v ...

engines and digital

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...

system, however the MKM version differs from the MKI mainly in the composition of the onboard

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

. It can carry up to payload over a un-refueled combat radius. In 2003, the Su-30MKM was selected by the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). In August 2003, during the course of President Vladimir Putin's official visit to Malaysia, the contract for the Su-30MKM aircraft was signed. Except for Russian

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

s, the RMAF has previously operated aircraft of Western origin. At the time of delivery the Su-30MKMs were the most advanced and heavy fighters in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

Development

In August 2003, Malaysia signed a US$900 million contract with

Irkut Corporation The JSC Irkut Corporation () (russian: Иркут) is a Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in the Aeroport District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, and is best known as being the manufacturer of the Sukhoi Su-30 family of interc ...

for 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKMs. Malaysia operates eight legacy F/A-18D Hornet, and was offered Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, but the Royal Malaysian Air Force chose the Su-30MKM instead. The Su-30MKM is an advanced variant, with considerable performance related improvements over its Su-30MK/MKK counterparts. Irkut Corporation subcontracted the task of manufacturing the canards, stabilizers and fins to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. As part of the contract agreement, Russia sent the first Malaysian cosmonaut to the International Space Station. It was a project initiated under the government-to-government offset agreement through the purchase of Su-30MKM fighter jets for the Royal Malaysian Air Force. Under this agreement the Russian Federation bore the cost of training two Malaysians for space travel and for sending one to the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2007 under the

Angkasawan program The ''Angkasawan program'' was an initiative by the Malaysian government to send a Malaysian to the International Space Station on board Soyuz TMA-11. The program was named after the Malay word for astronaut, ''Angkasawan''. It resulted in Sheik ...

. The first two aircraft were handed over to the RMAF in May 2007 at Irkut's aircraft manufacturing facility at

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The two aircraft were later delivered to

RMAF Gong Kedak RMAF Gong Kedak ( ms, TUDM Gong Kedak) is an air force base operated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force ( ms, Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia). It is located in Gong Kedak, Pasir Puteh District, Kelantan, Malaysia. History The RMAF Gong Kedak exi ...

, Malaysia in June 2007 by an An-124-100 transport aircraft. By December 2007, seven months after the delivery of the first two aircraft, the RMAF had taken delivery of six Su-30MKMs. The eighteenth and last aircraft arrived at

in August 2009. In 2016, Su-30MKM successfully dropped a GBU-12 Paveway laser-guided bomb in a firing exercise. An aircraft registered number M52-08 successfully dropped the bombs at Kota Belud firing range in Sabah on 27 November 2016. This makes the first Russian-made Sukhoi combat aircraft that can use the American-made weapon. According to Malaysian defense Minister Mohamad Sabu, Malaysia has grounded 14 of 18 Su-30MKM due to engine problems and unavailability of spare parts in 2018. To overcome this problem and increase the readiness of the Su-30MKM fleets, Malaysia has approved the budget worth RM2.2 billion for the Su-30MKM to be upgrade locally by

Aerospace Technology Systems Corporation The Aerospace Technology Systems Corporation Sdn Bhd (ATSC), is a Malaysian aerospace company that providing aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service. Its subsidiary of National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (NADI) and ...

. The first upgraded aircraft was received in 2019 in LIMA 2019 exhibition.

Design

The Su-30MKM was developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau and is based on the Su-30MKI. The MKM version differs from the MKI mainly in the composition of its onboard

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

supplies the Head-up display (HUD), navigational forward-looking IR system NAVFLIR and the Damocles targeting pod. The aircraft carries missile approach warning sensor (MAWS) and laser warning sensor (LWS) manufactured by Avitronics (South Africa). It can carry up to 8,000 kg/ 17,650 lb of weapons and payloads over 700 nmi unrefueled combat radius. "The Su-30MKM can legitimately claim super-maneuverability via digital fly-by-wire, canards", and two Saturn AL-31FP engines with

"producing 27,500 lb thrust each with afterburners. This gives them an edge in close-in dogfights, allowing the pilot to rapidly point the plane at potential targets to draw them within the AA-11/ R-73 Archer’s wide infrared seeker cone, then launch and quickly change energy state and direction". The

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

(EW) systems,

phased array radar A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscillat ...

s, optical-location systems with laser rangefinder were all produced by leading Russian manufacturers. At that time, officers from RMAF formed a Su-30MKM Project Team which was based in Moscow; the team had actively participated in the integration of all the avionics systems. The aircraft is capable of conducting SEAD missions when being equipped with two KNIRTI SAP-518 jamming pods and Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles. The KNIRTI SAP-518 covers NATO surface-to-air and air-to-air threats in the G-J bands. It is equipped with NIIP N011M phased array radar for long range aerial combat which can track up to 15 targets and engage 4 targets simultaneously. It can also be equipped with a Thales Damocles Laser Designation Pod (Thales) surveillance & targeting pod for precision ground attack. It has a rear-facing radar, HUD (Thales), NAVFLIR (Navigation Forward Looking Infra-red) (French). Missile Approaches Warning System (MAWS) & laser warning sensor (LWS) supplied by Saab Avitronics of South Africa.

Operators

; * Royal Malaysian Air Force has 18 Su-30MKMs in inventory. All the aircraft are assigned to the 12th Squadron based at

Specifications (Su-30MKM)

References

External links