Kazakhstan's recent decision to acquire the Russian Su-30SM jets instead of a competing offer from France to supply its Rafale jets is only natural, according to a US military news magazine.
The media outlet recalled that even though the Rafales have a relatively long range for a lightweight fighter, it is still far shorter than "heavyweights" such as the Su-30.
This Russian warplane "can not only fly much further and with a much greater weapons load, but its situational awareness is also considerably greater, with its radar being approximately twice the size of the Rafale’s RBE2," the magazine stressed.
Another major drawback of the Rafale reportedly pertains to Western arms suppliers’ longstanding drive to slap embargoes on spare parts to restrict the use of their assets abroad.
One should also bear in mind that it would have been "highly troublesome" for Kazakhstan and Russia to integrate "very short ranged and non-compatible" Rafale fighters into the Moscow-Astana joint air defense network.
The US magazine’s report comes a few days after Yerzhan Nildibayev, Kazakhstan’s deputy commander in chief of air efense, said in a statement that Astana had preferred the Su-30SMs to the Rafales and that the Russian jet had a better "quality-price" ratio compared to the French aircraft. According to him, the Kazakh Defense Ministry plans to purchase ten Su-30SMs before the end of 2024.
In a similar move in the mid-2000s, Algeria picked the Su-30MKAs for its navy instead of the much-touted Rafales at the time.
Report: French Firm Dassault Aviation Bribed Its Way to €7.8Bln Rafale Fighter Jet Contract in India
8 November 2021, 12:51 GMT
The Sukhoi Su-30 is an air superiority multi-role jet of the 4++ generation that can combine functions of a fighter and a bomber. The two-seat all-weather aircraft is capable to carry advanced high-precision air-to-air as well as air-to-surface weapons.