Algeria Buying More Sukhoi Flankers From Irkut

Russian aircraft manufacturer Irkut has lined up orders with the Russian Defence Ministry and Algeria for the delivery of 22 Su-30 heavy multi-role fighter jets over the next two years, Russian officials said this week.

Sergey Chemezov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Russia's state defense technology holding Rostec, announced Friday that Russia has signed an agreement with Algeria for the delivery of 14 Sukhoi Su-30MKI multi-role fighter jets.

The Su-30 is classified by the Russians as a generation 4+ fighter, and is a less advanced derivative of the Soviet-designed Su-27 flanker than the newer Su-35 multi-role fighter, which is marketed as a generation 4++ fighter jet, sporting Russia's latest electronics and weapons.

The price of the Algeria contract was not disclosed, but the reported cost of an Su-30MKI fighter is 2 billion rubles (US$30 million). The MKI is an export variant of the Su-30, and over 200 of the planes are in service with the Indian Air Force. Algeria has 44 of the aircraft already.

Chemezov said Algeria's new Su-30MKI fighters would be delivered between 2016 and 2017 — the same time frame for delivery as a contract for eight of the more recent Su-30SM variant of the fighter jets signed by Irkut and the Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday.

Deputy Defence Minister for Procurements Yury Borisov said Tuesday that the eight planes were being purchased for the Russian Navy, which operates the Su-30 as a maritime strike aircraft out of Crimea, but that a larger 75-fighter contract was teed up for the air force.

That contract will be signed by the end of the year and “will give additional orders to the Irkut Aviation Plant, and secure its corresponding economic stability,” Borisov was quoted as saying in an Irkut news release Tuesday.

Irkut is one of Russia's three largest airplane manufacturers, which include MiG and Sukhoi. All three are owned by the United Aircraft Corporation, a massive Russian state-owned aviation holding company.

Rostec's Chemezov, speaking at the 2015 Russia Arms Expo held Sept. 9-12 in Nizhny Tagil — home to tank manufacturer UralVagonZavod — said that Irkut was expected to produce 60 aircraft this year, setting a post-World War II record for the aviation plant.

Irkut is in the final stages of completing deliveries under a 2011 contract with the Russian Defence Ministry to deliver 60 Su-30SM fighter jets. The new contract for 75 of the fighters will see 20 to 25 of the planes roll off Irkut's assembly line over a period of three years.

The Russian Navy is also interested in future orders of the Su-30SM. In August, the head of Russia's naval aviation branch, Maj. Gen. Igor Kozhin, said the navy would procure around 50 of the aircraft by 2020, bringing the total number of Su-30SMs in service across all branches to 160.

While the Defence Ministry is preparing to sign a contract for more Su-30 fighters, it is also gearing up to sign a 100 billion ruble (US$1.5 billion) contract for 48 Su-35 fighter jets by the end of the year. Sukhoi manufactures the Su-35 itself and is expected to complete a similar 48-fighter contract this year.

FIrst batch of PLZ45 155 mm self-propelled howitzer arrived in Agleria

First batch of Norinco's PLZ45 155 mm self-propelled howitzer arrived in Agleria  as spotted by sadral forcesdz (here) and confirmed by Chinese military websites.   This marks Agleria as the third operator of such a long range artillery system after Kuwait (75 tubes) and Saudi Arabia (54 tubes). 

Here are old PR posters from 2006 and some of the spec might be dated.

Recent Chinese exports in helicopter and ships

In my review of 2012, I mentioned recent Chinese exports as one of the overlooked areas in recent Chinese news. More than anything, China has been having a lot of success exporting smaller ships and helicopters. I have captured a series of photos from various Chinese shipyards this year for export orders. They do not include all of the ships that they've launched or handed over this year, but we will go through that in the second part.

First, we have the missile boat that was built for the Pakistani Navy. One was built in Tianjin shipyard as shown below and the other was built in Pakistan.

Next, we currently have a littoral patrol craft built for Bangladesh Navy. Two Such LPCs are built for BN and they were launched about a month apart from the WuChang shipyard.

Most recently, we have seen Patrol Boat for Malta. They have received quit a lot of order for patrol boats and FACs from African countries in the recent years.

And this is a patrol ship that WuChang shipyard built for Namibia. This has already finished sea trials and been delivered already.

Next, we have 3 ships that were part of PLAN that is undergoing work to be transferred to Myanmar Navy. They are 2 Jianghu class frigates (554 & 557) and Type 037 class ship 772. I believe 771 is also getting transferred to PLAN. At this point, it's most likely that these ships are transferred rather than sold, but still good to have Myanmar Navy using Chinese equipments that will rely on Chinese supplies/part for weapon system.

Other than these ships, I have also recorded these additional exports of helicopters and naval ships from the past year or so.

• Late 2011, 4 patrol boats (FACs) for Ghana
• Late 2011, 6 H425 for Bolivia
• Jan 2012, 12 AC-312 (Z-9) for Cambodia
• March 2012, 2 (535, 536) retrofitted Jianghu for Bangladesh
• March 2012, Z-11 production in Argentina
• April 2012, 2 OPVs for Nigeria
• May 2012, 3 F-22A for Algeria
• Nov 2012, 4 more F-22Ps for Pakistan
• Nov 2012, Z-9 for Zambia

So There have been quite a few success stories. This is something that I will follow up and update on next year. Chinese shipyards are doing really well in this low end naval/security ship market. Chinese helicopter companies are also doing a good job of selling Z-9s and Z-11s to third world countries. I think they are probably taking market share away from Russians and some Europeans. This is a trend that I expect to continue in the coming years.