Yak-130 Combat Trainer, Russia

The Yak-130 combat trainer was selected as the winner of the trainer competition of the Voyenno Vozdushnyye Sily, Russian Federation Air Force, in April 2002. The aircraft is also being actively marketed for export by Yakovlev, the Irkut company, and by Rosoboronexport.

The Russian Air Force has a future requirement for 300 Yak-130 aircraft that can be deployed as a light strike aircraft or as a trainer for a range of fourth or fifth-generation fighters. An order has been placed for the first 12 aircraft to replace ageing Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros. The aircraft will enter service in the Russian Federation Air Force in 2007 at the military pilot training academy in Krasnodar.

The production line for the aircraft at the Aviation Plant Sokol in Nizhny Novgorod, known as NAZ Sokol, is fully operational and the roll out of the first production series aircraft took place in May 2003. A series of flight tests of the serial production aircraft was started in April 2004 and will be completed in early 2006.

The Russian Air Force ordered official testing in May 2005. The full trials of the advanced combat trainer, including spin and combat tactics trials, will be completed in 2007 prior to delivery to the Russian Air Force.

In March 2006, it was announced that Algeria had placed an order for 16 Yak-130 trainers.

DEVELOPMENT
A joint programme for trainer development between Yakovlev of Russia and Aermacchi of Italy began in 1993 and the Yak / AEM-130D demonstrator first flew in 1996. In 1999, the partnership was dissolved and the Yakovlev Yak-130 and the Aermacchi M346 became separate programmes.

By the second quarter of 2003, the Yak-130 prototype had successfully completed 450 flights, including high-manoeuvrability flight demonstrations such as a controlled angle of attack of 42°.

The Yak-130 has a maximum g-loading of +8g to -3g and is capable of executing the flight manoeuvres specific to current operational and developmental combat aircraft, including Su-30, MiG-29, Mirage, F-15, F-16, Eurofighter, F-22 and F-35.

Other variants of the Yak-130 being considered include a navalised carrier-based trainer aircraft, a lightweight reconnaissance aircraft and an unmanned strike aircraft.