MGR Online — Military Watch Magazine, a journal and online media outlet covering military affairs and the defense industry, has reported that Vietnam's air force has chosen to procure 18 units of Russia's new Yak-130M light fighter jet to serve as the country's next-generation light combat aircraft. The move comes just five weeks after the aircraft's first test flight, which took place at the end of June.
Vietnam's air force already operates the older Yak-130 variant, which it ordered in 2019. While the two versions share a strong resemblance, the new Yak-130M features significantly enhanced combat capabilities, including an upgraded radar, improved onboard systems, increased electronic warfare capacity, and a broader weapons package.
The report states that these upgrades are intended to enable the aircraft to carry out missions typically associated with light fighters, while still maintaining lower operating costs than larger combat aircraft such as the Su-30.
For Vietnam specifically, the report claims the aircraft offers several advantages. Vietnam's air force operates a combat fleet that is predominantly Russian-made — namely the Su-27 and Su-30 fighters — and the Yak-130M serves as an appropriate platform for pilot training and low-intensity combat missions.
The aircraft can also serve as a cost-effective option for missions such as reconnaissance, counter-drone operations, and small-scale strike missions that do not require a full-sized fighter jet.
Despite being lighter and constrained to carrying a smaller radar, the Yak-130M is more advanced than the fighters currently in Vietnam's inventory, and will be the first aircraft in the country's fleet to be fitted with the BRLS-130R radar.
The report states that the new BRLS-130R radar, paired with the SOLT-130K electro-optical and laser targeting system, produces a sensor suite more advanced than that of the previous Yak-130 variant. Together, they enable the aircraft to effectively employ air-to-ground precision-guided munitions.
The substantial upgrade to the aircraft's sensor systems, combined with advances in data-link and other avionics, has significantly narrowed — or in some respects eliminated — the capability gap between the Yak-130 and competing light fighters from China, South Korea, and Sweden.
Amid Western pressure that has deterred most customers from considering the purchase of Russian fighter jets, Vietnam and India have continued to procure weapons from Russia.
The Yak-130M can also serve as an effective trainer for the Su-57, a fifth-generation fighter that Vietnam is expected to procure in the early 2030s.
Domestic sources have widely reported that Vietnam's Ministry of Defense has maintained a sustained interest in acquiring a new combat aircraft, expected to replace some of its existing fleet — including 12 fourth-generation Su-27s and approximately 30 third-generation Su-22 combat aircraft.
Reports on the matter first surfaced in mid-2017 in the Vietnamese newspaper Dat Viet, which indicated that the Ministry of Defense planned to procure between 12 and 24 Su-57s beginning around 2030. Further reports on the same subject followed in early January 2019.
