Sukhoi Su-30MKI

what is it?

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) is a two-seater, twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter. Development of the variant started after India signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture 140 Su-30 fighter aircraft.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 14.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,120 km/htop speed
• range 3,000 kmwithout refuelling
• size 38.8 tmax take-off weight
• built 272made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 29 years ago, in 1997.
• 🏎️Top speed is 16.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.7 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 14.7 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 6 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 3,000 km: 17× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 2.0× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1997-07-01

introduced

2002

status

still flying

number built

272

role

multirole fighter, air superiority fighter, fighter-bomber

origin

🇷🇺 Russia

makers

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

engines

2× Lyulka AL-31FP / Saturn AL-31

crew

2

length

21.9 m

wingspan

14.7 m

height

6.4 m

max take-off weight

38.8 t

top speed

2,120 km/h

range

3,000 km

ceiling

17,300 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family