Yerjan Nirdibayev, deputy commander of the Kazakh Air Force and head of an important ** department, said on November 30 that Kazakhstan decided to purchase the Su-30 SM from France instead of the Rafale. He also said that 10 Su-30 SM fighters of the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan will be purchased between 2023 and 2024, noting that the Su-30 SM fighters"Value for money"superior to the French Rafale.
France's Dassault has been selling Rafale to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for several months, and both countries are now using Soviet-made fighter jets that are expected to be phased out in the coming years, such as the MG-27 in Kazakhstan and the Su-27 in Uzbekistan. As the most powerful air force in Central Asia, Kazakhstan purchased the first Su-30 SM in 2015, and to date, the parties have signed 3 separate orders, and the Kazakh Air Force has a total of 23 Su-30 SM.
The benefits of increasing the number of fighters in service give the Su-30SM an absolute upper hand in the next contract with the Rafale, which will need to be retrained and integrated with different components, architectures and **. Among the main forces of Kazakhstan, in addition to the Su-30 SM, there are 32 Mi-31 BM interceptors, which have a range much greater than the Su-30SM and are equipped with larger radars, which were delivered to Belarus in 2010, where they were updated, the radars and engines were replaced.
This is not the first time that a similar situation has arisen, at the turn of the century, a similar decision was made in Algeria, the Su-30 SM has the same historical origin as the Su-30 MKA purchased by Algeria, both from the Iltskuk Aviation Plant, and is based on the Su-30 MKI fighter, the Su-30 MKI fighter developed by the Ilckuk Airport Plant, which combines the Su-37 fighter with the Su-27 The M fighter is combined, using a propulsion vector engine and a phased phased array radar, and its performance in air combat is far superior to the cheap Su-30 developed by the Komsomolsk Aviation School on the Amur River.
Su-30 MKA type Algeria.
An important advantage of the Su-30 SM is its greater coverage, however, the Rafale fighter has a much lower flight range than such fighters as the Su-30 and F-15. Algeria's air power is much more widespread, about the same as that of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Greece combined. Kazakhstan is 14% larger in terms of total land area.
The Su-30 SM flies farther and carries more, and it has greater environmental awareness than the Rafale RBE2 radar, which is twice as large. The improved version of the Su-30 SM is equipped with a more sophisticated N11M phased array, which has a maximum search range of 400 kilometers. Compared with the Al-30FP engine of the Su-30 SM, the M88 engine of the Rafale is a little less powerful, so its flight speed and operating altitude are restricted. The Rafale is a medium-sized fighter, and its biggest advantage is that it has less operating expenses and less maintenance costs. Since the cost of the Rafale fighter is nearly $40 million higher than that of the Su-30 SM, the Su-30SM is relatively high. The latest Rafale incorporates more sophisticated sensors and air-to-air missiles, which can be compared to Russia's only fifth-generation fighter, the Su-57, although future Su-30 fighter updates will also use this technology.
Another major drawback of the Rafale is that the French fighter jets are not compatible with existing Russian or Soviet equipment in Kazakhstan, and do not form a coordinated network with the Russian army. Kazakhstan's air defense system is closely linked to Russia's, and the establishment of a common air defense network by the Joint Security Treaty Organization in November has raised the long-range attack capabilities and mutual incompatibility of French fighter jets to a troubling level.