Angola Negotiating To Buy Russian Su-30K Fighters Returned By India

Russia and Angola are negotiating the purchase of six additional Su-30K fighters.

Luanda will be able to increase its fleet and Moscow will be able to get rid of the aircraft returned by the India built in fulfilment of the contract signed in 1996-1998. These are the same aircraft Luanda contracted in 2013 but has to still receive the aircraft. Russian officials nevertheless insist that the contract is executed in accordance with the agreements, Kommersant reported Friday.

The fact that Russian and Byelorussian specialists are searching for buyers for six Su-30K fighters stored in Belarus, was confirmed by a source in the aviation industry to Kommersant. 

This was confirmed by the director of the 558th aircraft repair plant (ARZ) Pavel Pinigin, who arrived at the MAKS-2017 airshow (Zhukovsky). 

According to him, the search for a buyer is "just a matter of time" and "no significant problems arise": "Do not rush, and everything will be all right." 

In turn, sources of Kommersant in the field of military-technical cooperation (MTC) clarified that negotiations for the supply of six fighters are being conducted with Angola. Representatives of Rosoboronexport and the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation refused to comment.

The history of these Su-30Ks began in 1996-1998. Then, the Irkut corporation signed a contract for the supply of the Su-30MKI fighter aircraft to India, but because of the need to prepare the capacity for the deployment of serial production of new aircraft, the customer was provided with simplified versions of the fighters with an obligation to replace them in the future. These obligations were fulfilled: simplified fighters were replaced with Su-30MKI, and in 2011, 18 Indian-returned Su-30K were driven to 558th ARZ in Baranovichi, after which Rosoboronexport began searching for potential buyers for them.

The aircraft were offered to Byelorussia, Sudan, Vietnam (the factory was even visited by a military delegation from Hanoi), as well as Angola.

In October 2013, during the visit to Angola, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin signed a contract for the purchase of 12 Indian aircraft and related supply, which implied the issuance of a loan of $ 1 billion to the customer.

It was assumed that Angola would receive the machines as soon as possible (they had to be repaired and upgraded to the Su-30KN level), but in 2015 the Air Force commander General Francisco Afonso specified that the fighters will be delivered by 2017. As of January 2017, Angola has not received any aircraft. At the same time, Dmitriy Shugaev, director of the FSMTC, commenting on the situation with the Su-30K, said: "The implementation of the contract for the supply of aircraft to Angola continues in accordance with the agreements signed by the parties."