Sukhoi Su-27 variant
Sukhoi Su-27 Su-27M2
The Su-27M2 is the single-seat side of the Kazakh-Belarusian Flanker modernisation programme: Kazakh Air Force single-seat fighters that passed through the 558th Aircraft Repair Plant at Baranavichy (Belarus) received this designation, while their two-seat counterparts became Su-27UBM2. The framework is the same: a contract signed with Belarus in 2007 covering ten aircraft, first deliveries in December 2009, and assignment to the 604th air base at Taldykorgan with the "Barsy Zhetysu" squadron. The upgrade standard was developed by the plant with the participation of Russian specialists, working on existing airframes with no new-build content. Sources disagree on the baseline aircraft. Russian press covering the 2009-2010 deliveries describes the process as upgrading "Su-27" to Su-27M2 and "Su-27UB" to Su-27UBM2, pointing to the production single-seat interceptor. The English Wikipedia variant list, by contrast, defines the Su-27M2 as the Kazakh modernised version of the Su-27P, the air-defence subvariant. The discrepancy is recorded rather than resolved here. The designation should also not be confused with the Soviet Su-27M (the T-10M prototype that led to the first-generation Su-35), nor with the Russian Su-27SM/SM2/SM3 upgrades, to which it is unrelated as a programme.
History
The 2007 contract
Kazakhstan contracted Belarus to modernise ten Su-27s in 2007. The work was carried out at the Baranavichy aircraft repair plant (558 ARZ). Single-seaters emerged from the process designated Su-27M2.
Delivery and service
The first modernised aircraft reached Kazakhstan in December 2009 and were assigned to the 604th air base at Taldykorgan, with the "Barsy Zhetysu" squadron. The Kazakh fleet of the family then stood at around thirty-four aircraft between Su-27S and Su-27UB.
A disputed name
Alongside Su-27M2 the designation Su-27BM2 also circulates, described in some lists as the "Belarusian modernised Su-27P for the Kazakhstan Air Force". Everything suggests both labels describe the same work on Kazakh single-seaters, but no primary documentation from the plant or the customer establishes which is the official designation. This article keeps Su-27M2, the form used by press reporting contemporary with the deliveries, and records the other as an unconfirmed alternative name.
Documentary gaps
There is no verifiable description of the exact content of the upgrade package, nor a confirmed figure for aircraft finally converted beyond the ten contracted.