Airforces

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Yak- 130

76 // FEBRUARY 2018 #359

with the NSTs-TE helmet-mounted cueing

system. The centreline station can

accommodate an SNPU-130 conformal pod

with a GSh-23L twin-barrel 23mm gun.

Light strike options include two KAB-500Kr

TV-guided bombs and a large selection of

freefall bombs from 110lb (50kg) to 1,100lb

(500kg), RBK-500 cluster bombs, ZB-500

napalm canisters and 650-litre (143-gal)

external tanks in addition to 20-round

B-8M1 packs for 80mm rockets and five-

round B-13L packs for 122mm rockets.

The built-in weapons simulation capability

of the SUO-130 weapons control system

also allows student pilots to practise using

all modern Russian guided missiles and

bombs with infrared, TV and laser seekers

as well as guns and aircraft self-protection

suites in addition to a synthetic radar.

Current manufacturer Irkut offers

customisation of the cockpit controls to

replicate those of fighter types operated

by foreign customers, but to date only the

baseline configuration has been ordered.

Plans to develop light attack derivatives of

the Yak-130 include a laser rangefinder/target

designator in the nose or a compact radar

with air-to-air and air-to-surface modes. The

LD-130 laser rangefinder/target designator,

improving the accuracy of unguided weapons

and allowing the use of laser-guided

munitions, was installed on a pre-series

aircraft and tested in flight for the first time

in April 2015. This sub-version, requested

by a still-unnamed customer, shares almost

full commonality with the basic Yak-130 but

adds the Talisman-NT twin-pod wingtip-

mounted radar jamming system from Belarus.

The air-to-air radar accommodated in the

nose or in a pod still only exists on paper.

Into service

The first pre-series Yak-130, ‘01’, built at the

Sokol plant made its maiden flight on April

30, 2004, at the factory airfield in Nizhny

Novgorod, with Roman Taskaev at the

controls. The second example, ‘02’, flew

in April 2005 and the third, ‘03’, followed

Above right: The front and rear cockpits of the Yak-130 are dominated by multi-function displays. Andrey Zinchuk

Below: A late-production Yak-130 belonging to the 200th UAB at Armavir and

used for training student pilots in the fi ghter stream. Stanislav Bazhenov