Russian air Force Receives First Yak-130 Combat Trainers

Russia’s air force has taken delivery of its first six Yakovlev-designed Yak-130 combat trainers from Irkut, with the aircraft drawn from a 55-unit deal signed by Moscow last December.

Three of the aircraft were flown to the air force’s training base at Borisoglebsk, about 108nm (200km) east of Voronezh, from the Irkutsk production site on 5 October, the company says. Their transfer flights were performed by service pilots, it adds.

Deliveries of all 55 trainers will be completed by 2015, with company president Oleg Demchenko saying Irkut "will continue increasing the production rate of combat aircraft within the state defence order". A first batch of Sukhoi Su-30SMs will also be transferred from Irkutsk to the Russian air force late this year, under a production deal for 30 of the multirole fighters.

Powered by two Ivchenko Progress AI-222-25 turbofan engines, the Yak-130 has a maximum take-off weight of 9,000kg (19,800lb) and a top speed of 572kt (1,060km/h). In addition to serving as an advanced jet trainer, the aircraft can support combat instruction by carrying a maximum weapons and sensor load of about 3,000kg.

Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database records the Russian air force as having previously accepted nine Yak-130s to support its test and evaluation activities. Irkut also last year completed the delivery of 16 examples to the Algerian air force, under its launch export deal for the design.