MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. The Sukhoi Company (part of the United Aircraft Corporation, UAC) has manufactured the last batch of Su-34 fighter-bombers under a long-term contract with Russia’s Defense Ministry, the UAC press office announced on Wednesday.
"The Sukhoi Company (within the United Aircraft Corporation of the State Corporation Rostec) has completed the fulfillment of the next long-term contract for the delivery of a batch of Su-34 fighter-bombers to Russia’s Defense Ministry," the statement reads.
The last fighter-bomber of the final batch has been manufactured at the Novosibirsk Aircraft Enterprise (a branch of the Sukhoi Company) and has passed trials, it said.
About a hundred Su-34 fighter-bombers have been manufactured under the long-term contract with the Defense Ministry, United Aircraft Corporation and Sukhoi Company CEO Yuri Slyusar was quoted by the press office as saying.
"At the same time, we have started implementing new contracts signed at the Army forum that have helped utilize the capacities of our enterprises and provide work for our personnel in several regions of the country," Slyusar said.
In particular, Slyusar announced at the Army-2020 international arms show that a new contract for Su-34 fighter-bombers had been signed. The aircraft with expanded combat capabilities are set to be assembled at the Novosibirsk Aircraft Enterprise.
"The Novosibirsk Enterprise of the Sukhoi Company is today one of the largest aircraft-building facilities within the United Aircraft Corporation. The manufacture of Su-34 planes and their versions with expanded combat capabilities provides for stable utilization of the factory’s capacities over a long term," the UAC press office said.
A source in the domestic defense industry earlier told TASS that Russia’s Defense Ministry and the Sukhoi Company had signed a contract in early June 2020 on the delivery of about 20 Su-34 frontline bombers. The contract stipulated the manufacture of the baseline version with certain alterations, taking into account the bombers’ operation in the troops. Russia is simultaneously developing a heavily upgraded version of the Su-34M fighter-bomber. A contract on the aircraft’s manufacture is due to be inked in 2021.
The Su-34 multirole supersonic fighter-bomber is designated to effectively strike enemy ground and air targets day and night in any weather conditions.
The Su-34 carries long-range air-to-surface and air-to-air missile armament with the multi-channel employment capability. The Su-34 has an operating range of 4,000 km, can develop a maximum speed of 1,900 km/h and is capable of carrying a weapon payload of up to 8 tonnes. The Su-34 is half as noisy as earlier models.