Combat aircraft

A close-up view

of a navy ‘Fencer’

on the basket of

the Il-78M.

The old guard

— Su-24Ms from

the Baltic Fleet at

Chernyakhovsk

joined the

Su-30SMs for the

tanking exercise.

The Su-30SM

is gradually

replacing the

naval ‘Fencers’.

opportunity for the two fleets to work

together, now that the ‘Fencer’ unit is

converting to the Su-30SM.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has

ordered 116 Su-30SM (NATO codename

‘Flanker-H’) fighters from Irkutsk — 28

for the Russian Navy and 88 for the

Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). The

naval examples are replacing Su-24s

at both Saki and Chernyakhovsk. The

Su-30SM looks set to become the most

numerous modern fighter aircraft in

Russian service.

In September 2015, four VKS Su-30SMs

from Domna were deployed to Syria to

provide fighter cover for the Air Force

Group deployed there as the type made

its combat debut.

PHOTO REPORT // RUSSIAN NAVY

64 May 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net

62-64 Yeysk C.indd 64 21/03/2018 10:56