Hidden threats in Russian Yak-130 supplies for Belarus air force

In 2019, Belarus plans to procure from Russia four more Yak-130 combat-training aircraft as well as the first group of Su-30SM fighters, produced at the Irkutsk aircraft plant, that's according to Belarus defense minister Andrei Ravkov. “As part of the implementation of the contract with Irkut Corporation, the delivery of the third group of four Yak-130 for the Belarusian armed forces is scheduled for in March 2019. In addition, there is a contract for the supply of Su-30SM. Next year, we're planning to get the first group of these planes,” the defense minister told who RIA Novosti, Belarus Partisan reports. In turn, it is worth noting that the acquisition and testing of the use of the Yak-130 as a fighter and attack aircraft is a necessary measure and an attempt to solve the problem of the aging fleet of Belarus air force through procuring relatively cheap light-duty aircraft, the report says. At the same time, experts say the Belarus defense ministry should pay close attention to one important point, which, most likely, is deliberately silenced by the Russian side, and in the future it will "endanger the exploitation and use of the Yak-130 by the Belarus air force, as well as the combat readiness of the latter." The Yak-130 combat training aircraft was designed by Yakovlev Design Bureau along with Italy’s Aermacchi, and production was launched in 2009 by the Irkut Corporation in Russia, John Buchan wrote for EU Political Report. One of the strengths of the plane was a Ukrainian designed AI-222-25 engine created by Ivchenko-Progress SOE. The engine was subsequently produced by Russia’s Salyut Scientific-Production Centre for Gas Turbine Construction, in accordance with a license agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian enterprises. In 2015, when the license agreement expired, Irkut Corporation, the manufacturer of the Yak-130 should have changed the aircraft’s main propulsion system, but instead the company simply breached the copyright of the Ukrainian design for the engine, and started its own production of spare parts to replace the original Ukrainian components. At the same time, Russian media also began to spin reports claiming the successful and full replacement of Ukrainian components for the Yak-130 engines by the Moscow-based Salyut factory. But there were operational problems with regard to the reliability of the newly copied engines. On September 16, 2017, a Yak-130 crashed near the airfield in Borisoglebsk (Voronezh Region) during a training flight. The crew ejected. Media reports suggested that a possible cause of the crash was an abrupt failure of the engine systems. On April 12, 2018, also in Borisoglebsk, a second Yak-130 crashed. During a scheduled training flight, the plane experienced a technical malfunction of one of the units. Both pilots ejected. Not only is the Russian manufacturer in violation of the license agreement for the use of Ukrainian engines, they are also producing Yak-130s with engines that have not been upgraded and which lack the necessary quality of technical maintenance up to the standards required by the original design bureau. This poses a potential safety threat not only to Russia’s own air force, but also to aviation security worldwide.

Hidden threats in Russian Yak-130 supplies for Belarus air force

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