Kittyhawk 80157 Russian Yak-130

The Yakovlev Yak-130 is a jet trainer and light fighter with an all-metal structure made in Russia. The propulsion is provided by two AI-222-25 turbojet engines. The prototype flight took place in April 1996, and serial production started in 2009. The Yakovlev Yak-130 was developed as a military advanced training aircraft to replace the aging Aero L-39 Albatros in the USSR and later Russia's armed forces. Due to the collapse of the USSR and the great budget problems of the Russian Federation in the 1990s, work on the Yak-130 project proceeded very slowly. They clearly sped up when the Italian company Aermacchi started cooperation with Yakovlev's office in 1993 (from 2003 - part of the Finmeccanica concern). In 2000, the partners parted ways, but this did not have a decisive impact on the development of the Yak-130 design. The design of the aircraft can be considered quite successful and promising, as evidenced by the development of combat versions (e.g. the light Yak-131 fighter). The machine also aroused considerable interest in exporters. The following countries have reported their will or the purchase was made by the following countries: Algeria, Libya, Syria, Belarus, Bangladesh and Myanmar.