Russian deputy defense minister for procurement Yuri Borisov last month announced that the nation’s Aerospace Forces (VKS) would receive 16 new-build Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft in 2017. New weapons are also being added to the twinjet, which Borisov said had “performed in an exemplary manner during the Syrian conflict and has enormous growth potential.” He was speaking during a visit to the Novosibirsk Aviation Production Plant at Chkalov, which has a long-term contract with the Ministry of Defence to produce a total of 92 Su-34 aircraft.

The Su-34 has been in service with the Russian armed forces since 2014, having passed through a long developmental cycle in which the two-seat, side-by-side design had been envisioned as a carrier-capable attack fighter-bomber; an ASW aircraft; an anti-ship/carrier-killer; and an ELINT/EW platform. But its performance as a replacement of the Su-24 fighter-bomber has been most notable so far. The aircraft can carry a wide range of air-to-ground munitions and can even perform missions that were once assigned to the much larger Tupolev Tu-22M3 Backfire-series of bombers.

Sukhoi representatives have described the aircraft in its current configuration as a “fourth-plus generation aircraft that has a complement of on-board computers that provide for a state-of-the-art flight control system and the delivery of precision guided weapons. Its full-authority engine controls and the option(s) of extending range with additional external fuel tanks or air-to-air refueling put it in the class of a medium-weight strategic bomber.”

The Su-34 has progressively become the workhorse of the VKS. It is one of the few platforms in the inventory that can drop precision-guided munitions. Russia has consistently lagged behind other nations’ air forces in this technology. News services in Moscow reported on March 30 that six new weapons were successfully tested on the Su-34 airframe, including some long-range weapons such as the Raduga Kh-38 and Kh-59MK2 missiles and the latest in air-to-air missiles.

“What appears to be the goal of these testing programs is to ensure that all three of Russia’s most modern combat aircraft—the Su-34, the Su-35 and the T-50/PFI stealth fighter—can employ the most advanced weapons in the Russian arsenal,” said a Russian military aviation specialist. “This enables Russian commanders…to configure different aircraft to carry out similar missions, depending on which scenarios require an aircraft that can carry more munitions—like the Su-34—or which would require a faster, more maneuverable aircraft.”

Russian military analysts tell AIN that the Su-34 has the potential for export sales to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which has been looking for a replacement for in its Xi’an JH-7A strike aircraft.