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Russian airbase in Armenia will be re-equipped with Su-30SM fighter jets
"MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. Multirole fighter jets Su-30SM of the new generation will be delivered to the 3624th Russian airbase at the Erebuni aerodrome in Armenia to replace MiG-29 aircraft, a source in the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS on Tuesday.
"The re-equipment of the airbase with Su-30SM fighter jets is planned to start next year. The delivery of aircraft will be completed in two stages — in 2020-2021. All 18 MiG-29 jets are planned to be replaced with Su-30SM aircraft," the source said.
"When deliveries of new aircraft begin, some pilots will be sent to the Lipetsk aviation center for training, while others will continue serving at the Erebuni airbase," the source noted.
Su-30SM is a twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter jet of the 4++ generation."
Interesting development. I was already assuming our own Su-30's will be stationed at Erebuni as well because Shirak probably lacks the infrastructure for this (although it is completely possibly that we could upgrade the facilities there, which would be awesome, and not unbelievable considering the civilian facilities at Shirak and I think the runway are being upgraded anyway). This deployment by Russia of the same exact model would mean our planes could share the same exact infrastructure and equipment crews, making maintenance easier, and they could likely serve in joint units under CSTO which Russia would like since they've been pushing their joint Air Force Air Defense agreements for years, so this could have been planned as part of the Su-30SM deal. The possibility of easier maintenance would be big especially, considering how expensive an Air Force is to maintain, and maintenance costs were a big concern of mine when I heard the Su-30 acquisition news in the first place. What are your thoughts on this guys?
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