The Kazakhstan Air Defense Forces (KADF) has received a four new Sukhoi Su-30SM multirole fighter aircraft from Russia, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Defense.

“Within the framework of the agreement on military-technical co-operation with the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Kazakhstan received next shipment newest Su-30SM multirole aircraft,“ – according to a 25 December statement.

The new multirole fighter aircraft are set to supplement the fleet of Su-30Ms already in service with the Kazakhstan Air Defence Forces (KADF).

The Su-30SM is manufactured by Sukhoi Design Bureau mainly for Russia’s Air Force. It is an advanced model of the Su-30MK combat aircraft series. In addition to Kazakhstan and Russia, the armed forces of Algeria, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Uganda, Venezuela and Vietnam utilise aircraft of Su-30MK series.

Kazakhstan has eight Su-30SMs in its inventory as of now. Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan plans to acquire a total of 36 Su-30SM aircraft by 2020.

Kazakhstan bought its first batch of the Su-30SM in 2015 as part of agreements concluded earlier between the defense ministers of the two countries.