Photos published yesterday, September 2, in open sources indicate that the Russian Federation had begun deliveries of Yak-130 trainer and combat aircraft to iran. The first batch of at least two jets was brought by An-124-100 military transport planes, the materiel came from the stocks of the "224th Flight Detachment" of the russian ministry of defense.
A bit later, iranian state news agency Tasnim confirmed that the Yak-130 supplies had started, according to agreements between the two countries signed earlier. They note the trainer jets will be stationed at the Shahid Babaei Air Base in Isfahan and used to "prepare iranian pilots for iran Air Force's new fighters," apparently, referring to the Su-35S contracted from russians.
Read more: Transfer of Su-35 Aircraft from russia to Iran: Unveiling the Intriguing Puzzle
Here we should provide a reference, what kind of aircraft is Yak-130 and what kind of tasks it is designed to perform.
The russians themselves position their Yak-130 as a combat trainer jet for exercise flights and practice of all modes of firing weapons for 4th and 5th generation aircraft. At the same time, this plane can be deployed as a light fighter in "conflicts of low intensity."
Yak-130 is able to take up this role due to its specifications:
- fuselage length – 11.49 meters (37.7 feet)
- wingspan – 9.84 m (32.3 ft);
- maximum take-off weight – 10.2 tons;
- maximum speed – 1,050 km/h;
- effective flight range – up to 2000 km;
- payload – up to 3 tons: unguided S-8, S-13 and S-25 rockets, unguided and guided aerial bombs, R-73 air-to-air missiles.
According to The Military Balance 2023, at the beginning of this year the russian Air Force had 109 Yak-130 aircraft, and up to 12 more were planned to enter service this year. The declared export price for one Yak-130 is $15 million, while the "domestic" price for the ministry of defense of the russian federation is around $7 million per unit. There was an ongoing export contract with Vietnam, as far as known, the country received 6 to 12 Yak-130 aircraft in 2021.
Most likely, iran really ordered the delivery of the Yak-130 from russia precisely to train its pilots for the Su-35S, because there were hardly any other alternatives. It is not possible to train a pilot for a new type of aircraft without beefing up experience on a simpler trainer.
Here is the nuance: the russians themselves do not have any serial trainer version of the Su-35. They used to work on a project called Su-35UB, first presented back in 2000, but it progressed no further than a single experimental unit produced.
Read more: How Can Ukraine Thwart Shahed-136 Production in russia
