Su-35 expects export debut

The Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter will be a centerpiece of the Russian exposition at Airshow China this year. Following protracted negotiations, the sale of 24 such aircraft to China is expected to be finalized soon. According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the partners may sign the deal in November. “There will be a meeting of the joint [Russo-Chinese] commission on military technical cooperation in November. I think they will solve this issue there,” the Interfax-AVN news agency quoted Rogozin as saying shortly before the Zhuhai airshow. Rogozin, who is responsible for the defense industry in the Russian government, said he was unaware of any bottlenecks or unsolved issues, and that the partners were discussing “some pricing aspects” of the deal. 

This will be the first export success of the Su-35, whose only client so far has been the Russian Air Force. This single-seat generation 4++ fighter is a mid-life upgrade of the Su-27 Flanker. It combines the proven Flanker aerodynamics, more powerful NPO Saturn 117S engines with thrust vector control, and completely new digital onboard equipment, including the new Tikhomirov NIIP Irbis phased-array radar with an aerial target detection range of up to 400 km. The first prototype took off in 2009, and the first production example commenced flight tests in 2011.