The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) has received the first Yak-130 trainer aircraft produced in Russia.
Two aircraft of the type were presented with an eye-catching livery and the designations 7-9700 and 7-9701 in material published by the state news agency Tasmin.
According to it, the jets were received at Shahid Babaei Air Base, in Isfahan, in the central region of the country. They are stationed at Iran’s 8th Tactical Air Base.
The delivery of the aircraft, whose details of the agreement are not known, takes place even before the Iranian pilots have completed their training in Russia. Six instructors would be in the country being prepared to fly the Yak-130.
Although there is no official confirmation, the Yak-130 trainers would be a Russian counterpart for sending Shahed-136 ‘kamikaze’ drones, which were used in attacks on Ukraine.
There are reports that the IRIAF will receive 24 Su-35 fighters that were originally manufactured for Egypt, but so far there is no indication that they have been sent to Iran.
Iranian training jet
The Yak-130 is an advanced training and light ground attack jet developed by Yakovlev in partnership with Aermacchi, now part of the Italian Leonardo group.
The aircraft was intended as a replacement for the old L-29 and L-39 planes to provide training to Russian pilots. The inaugural flight of the twin-engine jet took place in April 1996, but in 2000 the partnership between the two companies was dissolved and each continued to develop its own aircraft – Aermacchi launched the M-346 Master.
Although it is subsonic, the Yak-130 has a good ground attack capability with a payload of 3,000 kg that can be made up of guided or unguided weapons and reconnaissance pods, among others.
The deployment of the Yak-130 comes months after HESA, a state-owned manufacturer, began series production of the Yasin, a trainer jet that first flew in 2019.
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The Iranian aircraft, however, is lighter than the Yakovlev, with a declared maximum take-off weight of 6,600 kg.
