This unique picture is of a fully armed Su-30 of the Indian Air Force carrying 10 air to air missiles. The missiles are six R-73 (AA-11 "Archer") close combat missiles on the wings and four R-27 (AA-10 "Alamo") missiles under the fuselage and intakes.

The Su-30 also carries a Gatling type cannon, and its big nose housing a big radar, long legs and manoevreability make it a formidable fighter. Click here to see a video clip of an Su-30 performing a "Cobra manoeuvre"

Below: Two views of  beautiful armed Su-30s from the "Hawks" squadron of the Indian Air Force

The R-73 missile is a 4th generation air to air missile acknowledged to be one of the best dogfight missiles in the world. A cooled infra-red seeking head can "see" targets that are 45 degrees off boresight and the missiles can be locked using a helmet mounted sight. The missile is very agile with thrust vectoring controls and can engage targets performing 12 G manoeuvres from ranges as low as 200 metres to 20 Km.

In September 2002, the definitive IAF Su-30 MKI was inducted, recognizable by its canards and thrust vectoring engine nozzles. The picture below, taken by Sanjay Simha, is the first publicly available photo showing an Indian Su-30 MKI armed with the R-77 missile (middle missile in the photo below). Click on the image to see the whole whole aircraft. Note that this one is armed with bombs and missiles.








Below: an IAF Su-30 showing off its R-73s on wing pylons.

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