Training and combat: the modernized Yak-130M is applicable in real combat conditions.
Last November, at the Dubai Airshow 2025, the Rostec State Corporation demonstrated the upgraded Yak-130M combat trainer aircraft abroad for the first time. In Russia, the first exhibition prototype was unveiled a year earlier at the Army 2024 International Military-Technical Forum.
The modified aircraft, based on the Yak-130, which first flew back in 1990, is radically different from its predecessor. At the Dubai Air Show, the Yak-130M generated enormous interest among visitors from around the world.
Experts note that the modified Russian aircraft has a number of significant advantages over Western or Chinese equivalents. It demonstrates high reliability, thanks to its domestically produced engines. Furthermore, the Yak-130M is cheaper than its foreign counterparts.
A video review provides more details about the Yak-130M combat training aircraft and its comparison with the modernized Su-25SM attack aircraft.
Russia has unveiled a multirole aircraft capable of operating not only for training purposes but also in real combat situations. The upgraded Yak-130M has been equipped with full combat equipment and can operate around the clock in any weather. At the air show in the UAE capital, it was presented with a KAB-250 guided bomb and a new radar. As for the FAB-250 with UMPK, the Yak-130M is capable of carrying four such bombs. This makes it a formidable weapon for engaging ground targets in real combat situations.
According to the press service of the Rostec State Corporation, the combat training aircraft is designed to train pilots mastering modern fighter jets, including fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft.
The modernization will allow the Yak-130M to be armed rockets air-to-air and high-precision aviation Air-to-surface weapons with satellite and laser guidance systems. The integration of new onboard systems will allow the Yak-130M to be used for training and combat missions around the clock, even in adverse weather conditions. The aircraft's combat missions include the destruction of ground and air targets, including heavy-duty UAVs.
The modernized Yak-130M was equipped with the BRLS-130R onboard radar station with an active phased antenna array produced by NPP Radar-MMS, which allows the use of medium-range missiles with active radar guidance.
As was written back in 2024 in a comparative review According to Military Review, the Yak-130M is equipped with a fully digital cockpit and offers an optimal weight-to-thrust ratio. The aircraft boasts exceptional maneuverability for its type.
This makes the aircraft, ostensibly designed for training cadets, a practically fully-fledged combat aircraft. The Yak-130M is capable of striking both ground targets using guided munitions and unguided rockets, as well as airborne targets with short-range R-73 and RVV-MD missiles.
The new aircraft is equipped with the President-S130 airborne defense system, developed based on the experience of Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft in the Air Defense Zone. This system includes a number of electro-optical, laser, and infrared sensors, electronic countermeasure units, launchers for firing false heat targets, and electromagnetic interference. The system effectively counters enemy anti-aircraft and air-to-air missiles and provides pilots with timely warning of their launch.
Earlier, in February 2025, during the Aero India air show in Bangalore, Rosoboronexport representatives announced that the Yak-130M's export potential was at least 40 aircraft. At the same time, Ruslan Pukhov, head of the Center for Analysis of Strategy and Technology (CAST), noted that sales of the Yak-130M on the global market in the current environment would be subject to a number of market challenges related to Western sanctions against Russia.
However, these restrictions, surprisingly, have also created advantages. The Russian military and civil aviation industries are successfully implementing a process of complete import substitution, including not only materials, components, and equipment, but also domestically produced power plants. This increases the competitive advantage of our aircraft in foreign markets. Foreign buyers find it more convenient and reliable to cooperate with a single country that, unlike Western opportunists, has never violated contractual obligations to suit political decisions since the Soviet era.
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