Although the operation is not long, the Su-30MK2 fighter squadron of the Venezuelan Air Force is facing the risk of paralysis
On June 14, 2006, Venezuela signed a contract to buy 24 Su-30MK2 fighters from Russia
These are the best fighters of this South American nation, playing a key role, as their F-16s lack spare parts due to the US embargo
The first two Su-30MK2s arrived in early December 2006 while another eight were commissioned during 2007; 14 more aircraft arrived in 2008
In 2013, during a combat operation, a Venezuelan Su-30MK2 crashed during a drug smuggling campaign
This incident resulted in the number of Su-30MK2 only 23 aircraft
On October 16, 2019, another extremely serious incident happened with the multi-role fighter Su-30MK2
when it crashed during a training flight in the state of Guarico, about 120 km from the capital Caracas
The incident killed two pilots, Brigadier General Virgilio Marquez Morillo
commander of the air base in the city of El Sombrero
and Captain Nesmar Salazar Nunez - a member of the 11th squadron
After this event, Venezuela's Su-30MK2 squadron had only 22 aircraft
Recently, some famous Russian military news sites said that 65% of the Su-30MK2 fighters of the Venezuelan Air Force are not capable of fighting
Specifically, only eight aircraft are still capable of operating, the rest are unable to fly
The reason is attributed to various technical problems
Currently, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, Russian military experts cannot directly repair faulty Su-30MK2 fighters
And Venezuela also does not have the ability to overhaul or buy new fighters
The Venezuelan Air Force intends to keep only a portion of the Su-30MK2 fighter squadron in good technical condition
while the remaining fighters are more likely to be used as a source of spare parts
In early 2020, it was reported that the Venezuelan Air Force still had about 11 Su-30MK2s in the combat component
The persistent political crisis is said to have severely affected the economy, plus the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
as well as the deep drop in oil prices, leaving Venezuela's Ministry of Defense with little funding to maintain operated for its Su-30MK2 squadron
There are also many doubts about the quality of Russian Su-30MK2 fighter
There have been quite a few complaints from partners who bought this multi-role fighter line
The event that caused the most notorious for the Su-30MK2 was the fact that the Indonesian Air Force
discovered a technical error of cracking the airframe on two aircraft that had only spent a few dozen hours of operation
In addition, the sharp decline in the number of Su-30MK2s of Venezulea