The Yak-130 combat trainer was selected as the winner of the trainer competition of the Voyenno Vozdushnyye Sily, Russian Federation Air Force, in April 2002. The aircraft is also actively marketed for export by Yakovlev, the Irkut company, and by Rosoboronexport.
The Russian Air Force has a future requirement for 300 Yak-130 aircraft that can be deployed as a light strike aircraft or as a trainer for a range of fourth or fifth-generation fighters. An order was placed for the first 12 aircraft to replace aging Aero Vodochody L-39 Albatros in 2002. The aircraft entered service in the Russian Federation Air Force at the military pilot training academy in Krasnodar in July 2009 and was showcased in the MAKS 2009 air show.
The production line for the aircraft at the Aviation Plant Sokol in Nizhny Novgorod, known as NAZ Sokol, is fully operational and the roll out of the first production series aircraft took place in May 2003. A series of flight tests of the serial production aircraft was started in April 2004.
The Russian Air Force ordered official testing in May 2005. The full trials of the advanced combat trainer, including spin and combat tactics trials, were completed in December 2009 prior to delivery of the first two production aircraft to the Russian Air Force.
"The Yak-130 production aircraft is slightly different from the Yak-130D demonstrator."
The first Yak-130 ordered by the Russian Air Force completed its flight acceptance test at Sokol in August 2009. The Russian Airforce received the first four of 12 Yak-130s between February 2010 and April 2010. Another five aircraft were delivered in April 2011.
In March 2006, it was announced that Algeria had placed an order for 16 Yak-130 trainers. The first flight of the Yak-130 built for Algerian Air Force was completed in September 2009. Deliveries are due to begin in 2011. In September 2011, the Algerian pilots were permitted to take solo flights on the aircraft after completion of three months theoretical and practical trainings. In January 2010, the Libyan Air Force ordered six Yak-130 aircraft. The Vietnamese Air Force has ordered eight Yak-130 aircraft.
In December 2010, the Kazakh Defence Minister signed an agreement with his Russian counterpart to use the Yak-130. Syria and Indonesia have also shown interest in Yak-130 combat trainers