In mid-April 2011, Russian Air Force Commander-n-Chief Col.-Gen. Alexander Zelin signed the report on completion of the official test programme by the Sukhoi Su-34 multirole tactical bomber. The tests themselves were fulfilled successfully in January this year. In this connection, the Interfax-AVN news agency reported: “The near future will see the signing of the Phase two official tests report expected to pave the way for the Su-34 tactical bomber to the Russian Air Force’s inventory”. The Russian government will issue a special resolution to authorise the plane’s service entry in line with the current practice.

The Su-34 official tests involving a total of six prototype and pre-production aircraft and two production warplanes had been conducted since 1996. The flight programme designed to obtain a preliminary report on feasibility of full-rate production and operational evaluation had been completed by April 2003, and Phase One of the official test programme, conducted under the refined specifications requirement, was over in September 2006. Phase Two of the official trials, designed to test advanced weapons and tactics, had taken place from late 2006 to January 2011.

The operational evaluation of the Su-34 kicked off in the Lipetsk-based State Aviation Personnel Training and Operational Evaluation Centre in 2007, with the Centre having been given three production-standard bombers serialled 02, 04 and 05 before December 2009. Late last year, the centre received four more production planes (serials 06 through 09) under the December 2008 five-year contract for 32 Su-34 bombers earmarked for fielding with the RusAF air base in Voronezh further down the line. This year, RusAF expects delivery of six production-standard Su-34s more under the contract.