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 The Irkutsk Aviation Plant, a subsidiary of the Irkut Corporation, was visited by Malaysian Defence Minister Dato Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on 16 November 2011. During the visit, Irkut President Alexey Fyodorov showed his guest the key divisions of the plant, where the Su-30MK and Yak-130 aircraft and Airbus A320 components are manufactured. “The purpose of my visit to Irkutsk is to see with my own eyes where the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s multirole combat aircraft are made”, Dato Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. “What I have seen here is impressive and mind-boggling. I am certain that the aircraft is facing a bright future. We also are discussing the feasibility of further programmes, and Malaysian companies are always willing to cooperate with Irkut in this sphere”.
Irkut has delivered 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKM supermanoeuvrable multirole fighters to Malaysia as part of its cooperation with RMAF. “Finer points of another contract for the production of the multirole aircraft are under discussion now”, reads Irkut’s official release on the Malaysian defence minister’s visit to the plant.
The first contract for 18 Su-30MKM was signed by RMAF in 2003. It stipulated deriving from the Su-30MKI fighter, which had been delivered to the Indian Air Force by then, a modified supermanoeuvrable multirole combat aircraft with an international avionics suite beefed up with cutting-edge foreign-made self-defence gear. The first two production Su-30MKMs were accepted by RMAF in May 2007, with the official ceremony of the first Su-30MKM batch’s service entry taking place in Malaysia on 10 August 2007. Two years later, in August 2009, the last of the 18 aircraft ordered were delivered. The Su-30MKMs were fielded with the RMAF 11th Air Squadron stationed at the Gong Kedak air base situated north of the Malaysian capital. |
