Vietnam upgrades its fighter jets

Not only can Vietnam's defense industry produce some components for its main fighter jets, it can also upgrade the Su-27UBK to new standards.

Component manufacturing

According to PK-KQ newspaper, in recent times, PK-KQ Technical Institute has comprehensively and synchronously deployed research and successfully manufactured many components and equipment for the main fighter force of the Vietnam Air Force.

In 2016, the Institute implemented 9 projects (chaired 4 projects of the Ministry of National Defense, participated in 5 projects), 10 topics, 12 science and technology tasks, 65 technical tasks at all levels, the projects and tasks were highly appreciated for their quality and practicality.

The Air Defense - Air Force Technical Institute is conducting research, manufacturing and testing the MTL-VN2 transceiver on the Su-22M4 aircraft, the MTL-VN3 transceiver on naval ships, and the 6110-VN2 device on the Su-30MK2 aircraft on schedule, achieving good results.

The Institute has also completed the technology and piloted the production of the BI-VKT fire alarm amplifier block on Mi-8, Mi-17 and Su-30MK2 helicopters. This product has been accepted by the management level with good results.

Su-27 fighter after upgrade.

The Institute has also completed the technology and piloted the production of the BI-VKT fire alarm amplifier block on Mi-8, Mi-17 and Su-30MK2 helicopters. This product has been accepted by the management level with good results.

In addition, the Air Defense - Air Force Technical Institute has organized the acceptance of many Ministry of Defense-level projects that achieved level A such as: Research, design, and manufacture of multi-function screens with integrated satellite navigation and data recording to replace the IPV-1 direct indicator block,

TNL-1000 satellite navigation device in the weapon control system on Su-27 aircraft. Research, design and successful manufacture of CB-5V70-CM block cluster of SIMVOL-GIB computer on Su-27SK aircraft.

In addition to the topics that have been accepted and are being implemented as planned, in 2016, the Institute successfully defended the input outlines of two topics at the Ministry of National Defense level in 2017, "Su-22M4 HTMD target indication and navigation system".

Self-upgrade

Along with the success in manufacturing components, Vietnam's defense industry has also upgraded many other military equipment, including the Su-27UBK, to new standards. The Air Defense - Air Force recently posted images of the Su-27 fighter jets at the 925th Fighter Regiment.

That is, the Su-27SK (single-seat) and Su-27UBK (two-seat) aircraft have both been given a change in camouflage paint. The change in paint color is a sign that the Su-27 fighters have undergone a major overhaul and possibly an upgrade.

Surprisingly, while the Su-27SK aircraft use the same sky camo color, which is a bit darker than before, the Su-27UBK fighters (for training and combat, two seats) are painted in the color of sugarcane grass.

Like the new Su-30MK2 aircraft, assigned to the 923rd Air Regiment. Therefore, there are possibilities that the Su-27UBK aircraft have been upgraded to the Su-30MK2 standard. Adding air-ground and air-sea combat roles in addition to the excellent air superiority capability.

Upgrading the Su-27UBK to the Su-30MK2 standard is considered not too difficult because the Su-30MK prototype used to develop the MKK, MK2, and MKI versions was designed on the basis of improving the two-seat Su-27UB model (UBK is the export version) originally used for pilot training and combat missions.

It is not impossible that Vietnam has mastered this upgrade process itself when images of 8526 Su-27UBK being repaired at factory A32 appeared. If this is true, we will have fighter jets that are even more powerful than the original Su-30MK2.

According to Baodatviet