Russian Knights aerobatic team will be first to fly on the new Su-30SM at LIMA 2017

The Russian Knights aerobatic team will perform at the LIMA 2017 air show slated for March 21 to 25 in Malaysia, Russian Aerospace Force Commander-in-Chief Victor Bondarev has told journalists, airrecognition.com reported.

"Now, the Russian Knights are training [for the show] on their Su-30SMs (NATO reporting name: Flanker-C)", Bondarev said.

"They have completed a conversion course and mastered aerobatics. Then, they will take qualification test flights and debut on their new aircraft abroad - in Malaysia at the LIMA 2017 air show," Bondarev added.

The Russian Knights will fly their fighter jets to Malaysia and perform aerobatics there, including maneuvers reliant on the Su-30SM’s supermaneuverability.

"They will perform in the diamond formation," Bondarev added.

The Russian Knights aerobatic team formed in 1991 has flown the Su-27 (Flanker) for 25 years. The Knights received the Su-30SM advanced supermaneuverable fighters in the fall of 2016 and started learning to fly the advanced aircraft on December 1.

The Su-30SM fighter jet is a specialised version of the thrust-vectoring Su-30MKI and MKM variants for the Russian military, fitted with Bars-R radar and the wide-angle HUD.