The Russian-made Su-30 fighter is a very successful fighter, this type of fighter is also the largest fighter exported by Russia so far, and many countries such as the mainland, India, Algeria, and Angola have introduced this type of fighter, of which India has introduced more than 260 Su-30, which is also the main fighter of the Indian Air Force. In the nineties of the last century, our army successively ordered 76 Su-30MKK fighters and 24 Su-30MK2 fighters for $4.5 billion. In December 2000, the first batch of Su-30MKK fighters was delivered to our air force units (it is said that the first batch is likely to include the 3rd Air Force Division, which is known for its excellent quality), and has been highly praised by our army.
Objectively speaking, the introduction of this batch of Su-30 was tantamount to "sending charcoal in the snow" for our Air Force at that time! You must know that from the nineties of the last century to the beginning of this century, the situation of our air force was far worse than it is now. At that time, the most powerful fighters of our army were still J-6, J-7 and J-8 series fighters, which actually belonged to the Soviet/Russian MiG series fighters, all of which were light and medium-sized fighters, which were used to defend the homeland and defend the country, but if they were used for sea patrols, the ground and sea were somewhat insufficient. In particular, before the advent of the Flying Leopard, almost none of our military's fighters were able to go to the South China Sea for cruising without refueling in the air, and this undoubtedly put great pressure on the mainland's coastal defense.
Secondly, in the 90s, Japan, South Korea, and other countries were already equipped with F-15 and F-16 fighters, and even Taiwan's local armed air forces also had F-16 and other advanced fighters. Therefore, we urgently need a fighter of the same generation in order to gain an advantage in the air duel. On the whole, the arrival of this 100 Su-30 can be said to well meet the two major needs of our army and above, the fighter is not only advanced in performance, but also belongs to a kind of twin-engine heavy fighter, with a strong ability to land and sea. On the whole, the Su-30 fighters and Su-27 fighters supported the "half of the sky" of our air force at the beginning of this century. In addition, through the study of the Su-30 and Su-27 and other Flanker series fighters, our army has also been greatly inspired in the research and development of fighters, which has played a very important role in the development of our Air Force.
However, time has passed, and with the successive entry into service of our army, including the most powerful J-20 fighter, this Russian-made Su-30 fighter has long been no longer the most advanced in our army. However, after all, the total number of Su-30s is as high as 100, which is not a small number, and even just this 100 Su-30s are enough to compete with a modern air force power in any region of the world. So in this case, should we upgrade and improve it on a large scale, so that these Su-30s can continue to "exert residual heat"?
At the moment, there is little need for this, mainly for two reasons. First of all, the most direct reason is the large number of J-16s in service. Fundamentally speaking, fighters including J-16, J-11, J-15, Su-27, Su-30, and Su-35 can be said to be a member of the famous "Flanker" series of fighters. However, due to the progress of technology, although the shape of the J-16 fighter is very similar to the Flanker series of fighters, its core has been reborn, and the performance of this type of fighter not only greatly exceeds the Su-27 and Su-30, but even stronger than the Russian-made Su-35, which can be called the veritable "strongest flanker".
Nowadays, the technology of the J-16 fighter is quite mature, and the number of service has reached more than three digits, so in this case, it is the right choice to use the J-16 fighter to gradually replace the original Flanker fighter. At a time when the stronger J-16 fighter is in large-scale service, the need to improve the Su-30 is indeed greatly reduced.
The second is the reason for the Su-30 itself. As mentioned above, the first batch of Su-30s was delivered in 2000, and it has been more than 20 years, and in general, the service time of fighters is about 30 years. Therefore, even if we change this batch of Su-30s, it will not take long to retire them, and instead of this, it is really better to build a few more J-16s!
However, not carrying out "major reforms" does not mean that "minor reforms" will not be carried out. Previously, there have been Su-30 fighters equipped with our self-developed Thunderbolt series air-to-air missiles, so this is likely to mean that the Su-30 fighter has been slightly modified and upgraded, so that it can be in addition to the original Russian-made missiles, the same as our army's self-developed missiles, as for its avionics and other equipment, it is very likely that a small range of upgrades. Although it cannot meet the standard of the J-16 fighter, it is likely that it has been greatly improved compared to when it first came to China.
The author believes that after a small range of improvements and upgrades, it is very likely that these Su-30 fighters will be with us for about ten years at most before they are retired. I believe that under the careful maintenance of our Air Force, these "veterans" who have served for many years will be able to continue to "stand on the last shift"!