The Russian Black Sea Fleet that is based in Crimea has been reinforced with a squadron of eight newest Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters. The fleet will receive several more aircraft of this type later this year, the fleet’s spokesman Vyacheslav Trukhachev said on Thursday.
“After the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014 the process of renewal of Russia’s BSF [Black Sea Fleet] naval aviation began. Its rearmament with the newest multifunctional Su-30SM fighters has been actually completed. A naval aviation squadron comprising eight Su-30SM fighters based at the Saki aerodrome in Crimea has been formed by now. Later this year, the Black Sea Fleet will receive several more aircraft of this type,” he said.
The multirole Su-30SM can be deployed in counter-air strikes, counter-land and counter-sea missions. It can conduct electronic counter-countermeasures and early warning tasks. The aircraft also acts as a command-and-control platform within a fleet of combat aircraft performing joint missions.
According to Trukhachev, the fleet has mastered the drone systems, it is also renewing its air weapons arsenal, and the pilots undergo retraining for flying new types of aircraft.
