Russia's leading aircraft builder, Sukhoi, would build 92 frontline bombers for the Russian forces under a newly signed contract, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday.

The SU-34s, to be built at Sukhoi's Novosibirsk plant in southern Siberia, will replace SU-24s currently in service until 2020 in a deal expected to total 100 billion rubles (3.3 billion U.S. dollars).

"The contract has been signed between Defense Minister Antoly Serdyukov and Sukhoi's Director General, Igor Ozar," the Defense Ministry told reporters, adding that it was one of the largest contracts signed under Russia's state armament program.

Since 2008, Sukhoi has supplied the Russian Forces with 100 SU-34 bombers.

The first SU-34, produced in December 1994, was equipped with eight tons of bombs and missiles, a gun and a device for jamming enemy anti-aircraft radar stations.