IAF SU-30 MKI v/s. PLAAF Su-30 MKK: India vs China

India has decided to order 12 more Su-30MKI fighter jets that will be made at Nashik by HAL under Russian licence. This new order will add to the 272 fighters of the type already ordered by the Indian Air Force. The Su-30MKI fleet is now the backbone of IAF and will continue to be so for the coming years. The Chinese air force, too, operates the Su30 fighters. A comparison:

IAF’s Su30MKI

– With more than 260 fighters in service, Su30MKI forms the bulk of IAF. Additional jets are still being manufactured by HAL at Nasik and production will continue for next 2-3 years. The Indian versions are different from other Su30s as they are tailored to the needs of IAF

– Designated MKI for India, the fighters have advanced Israeli avionics and an electronic warfare systems, making them different from the standard Su30

Su-30mki is not less than su-35 which is one of the most advance fighter of not only Russia but also the world too. This is because Indian Su-30mki integrated with Indian, Israel, French modern equipment’s.

Su-30 MKI is equipped with R-77 BVRAAM which is a Russian medium range, active radar homing air-to-air missile system. The R-77 has the ability to engage multiple airborne threats simultaneously thanks to its fire and forget capability.

Su-30 MKI will aslo be fitted with Astra BVRAAM which is designed to be capable of engaging targets at varying range and altitudes allowing for engagement of both short-range targets (up to 20 km) and long-range targets (up to 80 km).It uses smokeless propulsion system to evade enemy radars and has the capacity to engage in multi-target scenario. Astra can reach up to 110 km when fired from an altitude of 15 km, 44 km when launched from an altitude of 8 km and 21 km when fired from sea level.

Su-30MKI has electronic counter-measure systems. The RWR system is of Indian design, developed by India’s DRDO, called Tarang, (Wave in English). It has direction finding capability and is known to have a programmable threat library. Elta EL/M-8222 a self-protection jammer developed by Israel Aircraft Industries is the MKI’s standard EW pod, which the Israeli Air Force uses on its F-15s. The ELTA El/M-8222 Self Protection Pod is a power-managed jammer, air-cooled system with an ESM receiver integrated into the pod. The pod contains an antenna on the forward and aft ends, which receive the hostile RF signal and after processing deliver the appropriate response.

PLAAF’s Su30 MKK/MK2

– China operates two variants of Su30 but these aren’t as capable as the Indian version
– Restrictions on the use of Israeli and western subsystems are one of the reasons
– China had ordered 73 of the older MKK version and later added 24 of the MK2 version for its Navy

However, unlike the MKI, the Chinese version does not have thrust vectoring engines, making them less manoeuvrable and nimble than the Indian fighters

COPY CAT

– China did not manufacture Su30s domestically, but it copied the design to make two indigenous versions called J11 and J16
– J11, which is based on Su27 platform, is the backbone of PLAAF, with 346 of the type ordered
– The more advanced version J16 is based on the Su30 platform and at least 128 are already in service. China has fitted the aircraft with indigenous weapons, including PL12 and PL15 air-to-air missiles

Chinese also copied another Sukhoi variant, Su33 for its Navy

Named J15, the aircraft carrier borne fighters have been copied from a suspected Ukrainian prototype that was surreptitiously acquired by China. At least 50 of these are believed to be in service.

 

 

 

 

Source:- ET

Image Credit:- Defence Decode Youtube