Shift in priorities

For the first 15 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has remained the major buyer of Russian weapons, primarily in the domain of military aviation equipment. The situation is changing however: continuing development of the domestic arms industry has prompted Beijing to become more selective in its choice of Russian-made armament. If this trend continues, China may eventually evolve into one of the world’s largest military aircraft exporters.

The glorious past

China used to actively cooperate with Russia on a number of armament programs in the past, including the delivery of 48 Sukhoi Su-27SK/UBK fighters in the 1990s, the license production of up to 105 Su-27SK (locally designated J-11) fighters in Shenyang, and also the contracts to deliver 28 Su-27UBK combat trainers, 76 Su-30MKK multirole fighters, and 24 Su-30MK2 carrier-based fighters (these deliveries ran from 2000 to 2004). In all, China purchased and license-built 181 Sukhoi Su-27/30 warplanes. That number does not include the indigenous unlicensed J-11B/BS models, copied from the Su-27SK and Su-27UBK respectively, and also the J-16 fighter (copied from the Su-30). This makes China the largest customer for Russian-designed heavy fighters to date, far ahead even of India, which has ordered a total of 248 Su-30K/MKI fighters.