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Indo-Pacific Flankers: Su-27/30 variants in the Indo-Pacific region

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The Sukhoi Su-27 ‘Flanker’ was developed and deployed by the Soviet Union during the 1980s, to serve as a heavy payload, high endurance air-superiority fighter. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Flanker family saw considerable export success, followed by enhanced Su-30 and Su-35 variants. The advanced combat capabilities of this modern twin-engine fighter, and the affordable price and flexibility offered by the Russian defence industry, proved attractive to a number of Indo-Pacific nations. Below I will cover the capabilities and load-outs, as well as current fleet numbers, of some of the variations of the Flanker family that have been exported to or produced in the Indo-Pacific region.   Introduction to the Flanker family The Flanker family is one of the most widely produced and operated aircraft in the world, with variants manufactured in the Soviet Union, two separate Russian factories – ‘ Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association (IAPO)’ and ‘Komsomolsk-
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Artillery in Ukraine – What Lessons for Australia?

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The ongoing conflict in Ukraine holds many lessons on modern warfare, as recent advances in military technologies and capabilities are employed in a high intensity, state-on-state conflict for the first time. However, the conflict has hammered home an old lesson – artillery is the king of the battlefield. As tube and rocket systems are increasing linked with modern information, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) assets and precision guided munitions (PGM), long range strike capabilities can allow artillery to dominate a battlespace. This article will examine some of the systems in use in Ukraine and their performance, as well as Australia’s existing and future artillery systems in light of the conflict in Ukraine. Australia’s existing artillery is mainly composed of the 48 M777A2 155mm 39 caliber lightweight towed howitzers acquired in the early 2010s as part of the LAND 17 Phase 1A program [1] . Australia was also intended to receive two batteries of self-propelled guns (SPG) as pa
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