MOSCOW, November 19 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian air force has started training pilots who will form the core of the country’s third aerobatics team, set to fly new Yak-130 combat trainers on Victory Day, an aircraft industry source said Tuesday.
“The training of the Yak-130 aerobatics team has begun with the goal of participating in the Victory Day parade over Red Square on May 9, 2014,” the source said.
This year, the first group of 15 pilots graduated from a Yak-130 pilot training course at the Borisoglebsk training center in central Russia, but the number of pilots and jets in the new team has not yet been determined, he said.
The Yak-130 Mitten jet trainer/light attack aircraft is a subsonic two-seat aircraft developed by the Yakovlev design bureau. The first Yak-130s entered service with the Russian Air Force in 2009.
Russia currently has two aerobatic teams – Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) with a fleet of four Sukhoi Su-27P and two Sukhoi Su-27UB Flanker fighter aircraft, and Strizhi (Swifts) who fly six MiG-29 Fulcrum fourth-generation fighter jets.
