The Yak-130M will make its first flight next year
Yakovlev Company for the first time presented an upgraded version of the Yak-130M combat training aircraft. A new modification of the already well-known Yak-130 aircraft, which is produced by the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory, will make its first flight next year. Izvestia investigated what capabilities the new development will have and what makes it unique.
More combative
As part of the development work, three samples of the Yak-130M will be built, which will be tested and will give rise to serial production of the new machine.
The basic model, the Yak—130 combat training aircraft, was developed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau in the early 1990s. The aircraft won the design competition, beating such machines as the MiG-AT, the Sukhoi Design Bureau S-54 and the Myasishchev M-200 KB. At the initial stage, the Italian company Aermacchi took part in the work on the aircraft, which subsequently withdrew from participation in the project due to disagreements. Aermacchi withdrew, but became a co—owner of a complete set of design documentation and released its own version of the aircraft, the MB-346 training aircraft.
Yak-130 aircraft
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Korotaev
The Yak-130 made its first flight on April 25, 1996 at the LII airfield in Zhukovsky. In 2003, production of the first two aircraft for testing was started. State tests were completed in 2009, and at the same time, serial production of the Yak-130 was started at the Irkutsk Aircraft Factory.
In the early 2010s, deliveries of the Yak-130 to the Russian Aerospace Forces and for export to Algeria were started. Today it is the main combat training aircraft for Russian fighter pilots in both the Aerospace Forces and the aviation of the Russian Navy. The aircraft is also widely shipped abroad and is operated in Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Iran.
The new Yak-130M will be more of a combat aircraft than a training one. In fact, it will be able to perform the functions of both a light fighter and a light attack aircraft. The main innovations are the new on—board radar station BRLS-130R, a container with optical-electronic and thermal imaging sighting equipment SALT-130K, the on-board defense complex "President-S130", the KSS-130 communications complex. The aircraft will be able to carry out air–to-ground strike missions using both unguided missile weapons and guided missiles. In addition, the suspension of a special streamlined conformal container with a double-barreled 23 mm gun GSH-23L is provided for the aircraft. With such equipment and armament, the Yak-130M becomes an all–weather combat aircraft with the ability to perform air–to-air and air-to-ground missions at any time of the day. He will be able to use new high—precision aviation weapons with various guidance systems - infrared, satellite and laser.
Yak-130M combat training aircraft
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko
Of course, the main purpose of upgrading the aircraft was to give it new capabilities — using the old airframe and engines by installing equipment and weapons systems of a new generation, a light combat vehicle will be produced that is in demand and will be able to compete on an equal footing with other aircraft of this class. At the same time, its mass and external contours do not change, but inside it is a completely new and more combat vehicle.
The creators noted that when forming the appearance of the new aircraft, the wishes of both current and future Yak-130 operators were taken into account. The market for light combat aircraft significantly exceeds the market for combat training vehicles, and there are many countries that would like to buy a light universal fighter instead of a training aircraft with limited combat capabilities.
The best in its class
A few words about competitors. The Yak-130 twin aircraft, the Italian MB-346, is a training aircraft and, although it can in principle carry out combat missions, it is not a full—fledged combat vehicle. Unlike the Czechoslovakian L-139 — a fresh reincarnation of the popular L-39 Albatross training aircraft in the past - as well as from the British Hawk and the South Korean T—50, our aircraft has two engines instead of one. This significantly increases its survival rate in combat conditions and gives a certain amount of power, which is not necessary for a purely training vehicle, but is highly desirable for an aircraft that will perform combat missions. At the same time, the cost of our aircraft is in the average budget range for cars of this class. In addition, the Yak-130M will carry full-fledged weapons, unlike all these training aircraft.
L-39 Albatross training aircraft
Image Source: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/Łukasz Golowanow
The training Yak-130 has everything you need to train pilots of 4++ and 5th generation fighters, but the new Yak-130M will not only be able to provide training for pilots of this level, but will also be able to use some of the systems that are part of the armament of 5th generation aircraft. At least, the pilots on it will work with an equally perfect sighting and navigation system.
A prototype of the new Yak-130M aircraft is presented. The first three experimental machines are already in assembly at the Irkutsk plant and in the first half of 2025, the first flight of the first flight Yak-130M is planned, followed by mass production and, first of all, for foreign customers, whose geography is likely to be extensive — from Africa and Southeast Asia to the Middle East and, Latin America is quite likely. Everyone needs an inexpensive and modern combat aircraft.
Dmitry Kornev
