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Further Reading

Yak-130

On 23 January 2012, the Kommersant newspaper in Russia reported that Russia and Syria had signed an agreement to sell the latter 36 Yakovlev Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer aircraft. The deal was valued at $550-million. Negotiations for sale were reported by Kommersant to have begun in December 2011. The United States, already critical of reported arms shipments to Syria, at the time experiencing a major uprising and resulting crackdown, said that it would look for clarification and confirmation about the sale.

The Yakovlev Yak-130 is an advanced military aircraft trainer. A 2-seat tandem intermediate and advanced jet trainer, the aircraft was designed to fulfill the Russian Air Force UTS portion of the UTK system (the Yak-56, a modernised Yak-54 was expected to handle basic training). The Yak-130 was designed to fulfill a Soviet/Russian requirement for a new generation trainer supplanting the widely used L-29 and L-39 Albatros.

As the Yak-130 has to perform maneuvers typical of fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, Yakovlev chose a moderately swept wing that made it possible to fly at angles of attack up to 35 degrees. To improve takeoff and landing characteristics, the aircraft had been equipped with leading-edge slats and 3-position Fowler flaps. All-moving tailplane and wing high-lift devices permitted flight at large angles of attack. Perfect aerodynamic configuration is combined with a full-authority 3-channel 4-time redundant fly-by-wire system with a hazardous mode restriction facility.

The Yak-130 is powered by two RD-35 turbofans each 2,200 kilogram-force, which provide better takeoff/landing characteristics on soil airfields compared to those of similar aircraft, and feature good fuel efficiency. In addition, high thrust-to-weight ratio provides for maneuvers at large angles of attack with speeds never lower than a minimum permissible level. The engine was developed under an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Slovakia.

The Yak-130 next generation jet trainer developed by Yakovlev design bureau won approval of the Russian air force' leading flight test institute. The aircraft demonstrated its high flight performance, proving that it fully complied to the specification. In particular, the aircraft demonstrated stable and controllable flight at high alpha (up to 42 degrees), a unique future for airplanes of its class.

The Yak-130 is able to provide quality training for trainee pilots, enabling them to master in a short time flying on any forth- or fifth-generation fighter, including the Su-30 and MiG-29, Mirage, Harrier, F-15, F-16, Eurofighter, F-22, and F-35. It is the only trainer available anywhere whose aerodynamic layout is similar to that of modern agile fighters. The effective wing with high-lift devices, extensive root extensions, and all-moveable stabilizer allow aerobatics in a wide angle-of-attack spectrum. The fly-by-wire flight control system with redundancy factor of four allows, for training purposes, changes in stability and controllability parameters of the airplane accoring to these of a simulated aircraft type ("re-programming"), while also serving as an active flight safety system.

Combat training on the Yak-130 includes simulated and real firing with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, bomb dropping, gun firing, mastering use of the airplane's on-board self-protection systems. The instructor can set and control "target behavior" from its seat in the aircraft. The automated on-board diagnostics and control system makes the aircraft easy to operate and maintain. The airframe has a design lifetime of 10,000 flight hours and 20,000 flight cycles during a calendar lifetime of 30 years. The airplane can operate from unpaved airfields.