Russian Air Force Su-30SM planes arrived to Baranovichi airport in Belarus for establishment of the joint Air Force and Air Defense training center of Russia and Belarus. Pilots of the two countries are expected to carry out joint patrols of the two states air borders. Russian missile air defense units also arrive in Belarus’ Grodno to establish a joint training center was made during the talks of the Minister of Defense of the two states on March 5. A total of three training centers are planned, two other located in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad Regions.
The Su-30SM (NATO reporting name Flanker-H) is a specialised version of the thrust-vectoring Su-30 for the Russian Air Force, produced by the Irkut Corporation. The Su-30SM (Serijnyi Modernizirovannyi, Serial Modernized) is considered a 4+ generation fighter jet. The aircraft has been upgraded according to Russian military requirements for radar, radio communications systems, friend-or-foe identification system, ejection seats, weapons, and other aircraft systems. The aircraft can be used to gain air supremacy same as for targeting adversary on the ground using wide range of weapons including air-to-air, air-to-surface and guided and unguided bombs.
It is equipped with the N011M Bars radar with a maximum detection range 400 km, search range 200 km using a phased array antenna, frontal horizontal fins and steerable thrusters for supermaneuverability as well as with wide-angle HUD with total weapons weight up to 8,000 kg. It is also equipped with the one barrel, 30 mm GSh-30-1 autocannon. To ensure operations at major distances from airfield, the ability of in-flight refueling (IFR) is included. Besides that, for electronic warfare purposes two SAP-518 jamming pods can be fitted on the wing tips. The SAP-518 is designed to protect the aircraft from various air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles.