The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Serdyukov, and the General Director of the Sukhoi Company, Igor Ozar, signed a state contract for the delivery of 92 Su-34 frontline bombers by 2020.
JSC Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association currently carries out serial production of the Su-34 under an existing contract for the delivery of 32 Su-34 aircraft signed in 2008.
Ten fighter-bombers have already been delivered.
Serdyukov called this contract one of the largest military aircraft delivery contracts within the framework of the State Arms program for 2011-2020.
Implementation of the contract will allow replacement of in service Su-24 fighter-bombers in the near future.
Su-34 performance and combat capabilities fully comply with Air Force requirements as confirmed by joint state tests finished in September 2011.
Su-34 4+ generation fighter-bomber is able to reach ground, sea and air targets in all-day and -night and all-weather conditions using all weapons, including high precision types.
Active safety systems along with new generation computers allow to create additional opportunities for pilot and navigator to carry out precision bombing.
The Su-34 fighter bomber is a derivative of the Su-27 fighter aircraft.
The aircraft design retains the basic layout and construction of the Su-27 airframe, with a conventional high-wing configuration and a substantial part of the onboard equipment.
The Su-34 has a changed contour of the nose section to accommodate an advanced multi-mode phased array radar with terrain following and terrain avoidance modes.
It has a two-seat rather than single-seat cockpit.
The capacity of the internal fuel tanks has been increased with a resulting increased take-off weight. Changes have been made to the central tail boom for a rear-facing radar.