Rostec hands over fresh Su-35 fighters to Russian air force

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation delivered a fresh batch of Su-35S multirole fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces, state defense conglomerate Rostec announced, continuing production deliveries of the advanced fourth-generation jet even as the war in Ukraine grinds through its fourth year.

The announcement, made through Rostec’s official channels, confirms that Russian military aviation is still receiving new airframes despite the attrition that combat operations and Western sanctions have imposed on the country’s defense industrial base.

The Su-35S occupies the top tier of what Russia’s aviation industry can currently produce at scale. Designated a generation 4++ aircraft, a marketing classification that describes a platform with some fifth-generation characteristics without meeting the full stealth and sensor fusion requirements of true fifth-generation designs like the F-22 or F-35, the Su-35S combines a thrust-vectoring engine system with an advanced radar and a weapons payload that gives it genuine beyond-visual-range engagement capability alongside strong close-in maneuverability. The aircraft’s AL-41F1S engines use three-dimensional thrust vectoring, allowing the jet to point its nose in directions its speed and altitude would normally make impossible, a capability that gives Su-35S pilots a significant advantage in close-range combat where the ability to bring a weapon to bear first can be decisive.

A Russian Aerospace Forces pilot operating the type described the aircraft’s mission profile in Rostec’s announcement: “The Su-35S is a maneuverable multifunctional fighter. This equipment works without complaints, and the crew finds it convenient to operate. We perform various tasks on this aircraft: intercepting air targets at long range, covering strike groups and ground objects, destroying unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as delivering precision strikes against ground and surface targets with precision-guided weapons. We also conduct reconnaissance and identify enemy positions at significant depth from the line of contact.”

That description maps closely to the actual operational record of the Su-35S in Ukraine, where the aircraft has been used for air superiority patrols, as an escort for strike packages, for long-range cruise missile launches, and increasingly for anti-drone operations as Ukrainian forces have expanded their use of unmanned aircraft against Russian targets. The mention of reconnaissance at significant depth from the line of contact reflects a role that has become more prominent as the conflict has evolved, with both sides using their most capable aircraft to gather intelligence on positions and movements far behind the front rather than committing them to close air support missions that expose them to man-portable air defense systems and short-range missiles.

The combat losses the Su-35S fleet has absorbed since 2022 provide important context for understanding why continued production deliveries matter to Moscow. The open-source intelligence project Oryx, which documents equipment losses through photographic evidence, has confirmed Russia lost at least 140 combat jets since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, including at least 8 Su-35S aircraft. Losing eight of what is arguably Russia’s most capable production fighter represents a meaningful reduction in the fleet’s overall combat capacity, particularly given that the Su-35S fills roles that older aircraft types cannot replicate. Each confirmed loss also represents not just the cost of the airframe, estimated at roughly $85 million per aircraft, but the training investment in the pilot and the operational experience that cannot be replaced by delivering new jets to units that need time to work up to full combat readiness.

The Western sanctions imposed after the 2022 invasion targeted Russia’s aviation sector specifically, attempting to cut off access to the microelectronics, avionics components, and manufacturing equipment that modern combat aircraft require. Russia’s ability to continue production despite those restrictions reflects a combination of stockpiled components, parallel import routes through third countries, and domestic substitution efforts that have proven more resilient than Western governments initially projected, though independent assessments suggest the quality and performance of substituted components remains a genuine concern for Russian aircraft manufacturers. The pace of new deliveries has not been publicly specified in the Rostec announcement, and the number of airframes in this batch is not disclosed.

The Su-35S entered Russian service in 2014 and has since been exported to China, which received 24 aircraft beginning in 2016, making it one of the few Russian combat aircraft to achieve significant export success in the post-Cold War era. Egypt signed a contract for the type, though delivery of that order has been complicated by U.S. secondary sanctions pressure. The production line at Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia’s Far East has continued operating throughout the conflict, sustained by the elevated defense budgets that Russia has maintained since 2022 as the war’s cost has driven military spending to levels not seen since the Soviet era.