On 01 February news got out about a signing of a deal for Moscow to sell Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets to Yerevan after a series of negotiations that started last year. According to the new deal, Russian Irkut Corporation will supply Armenia with Su-30CM , which are considered 4th generation fighters . An internal source known to Russian daily Kommersant stated that the deal is for four of these aircraft, was sold to Armenia at Russian internal market prices and whose delivery is expected to start by the year 2020.
In a briefing about the purchase, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, Artsrun Hovhannisyan declined to state the quantity of aircraft purchased, nor did he clarify the means by which they were purchased, stating that “the purchase of equipment for the Armed Forces [of Armenia] is carried out by both, credit [loans] and our [country’s] means”.
This is a significant breakthrough for Armenian’s military aviation field, as for years Moscow and Yerevan had periodically negotiated the transfer of new military aircraft, but for a series of particular circumstances none were able to succeed. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the last significant military aircraft purchase by Armenia were 10 second-hand Su-25 ground support “Frogfoots”, for approximately $10 million, which were preceded by two L-39 Albatros training aircraft the same year.
Some military experts have stated that by signing this deal with Armenia, Moscow intends to persuade Azerbaijan to purchase similar aircraft and in a sense, promoting internal military aviation production.
A Su-30 training sortie
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