Governments of Egypt, Algeria and Indonesia rejected the potential acquisition of Russian modern Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets amid economic sanctions against Russia, targeting its oil industry, defense, dual-use goods and sensitive technologies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sources said that Russia asked for its potential partners for another extension to solve the technical and political issues that have arisen as a result of sanctions and being locked up on the import of modern components from the USA, Europe and Israel to produce Su-35 fighters in export configuration.
“The Russian defense industry lost three large orders for its Su-35 fighters at once due to the failure to replace scanned array radar and avionics, which were previously imported from a number of European countries and Israel,” sources told Defence Blog.
Indonesia also officially confirmed that Jakarta abandoned Su-35 acquisition plans.
It was confirmed by Indonesian Air Force Air Chief Marshal Fadjar Prasetyo while speaking to the local media in Jakarta.
He was quoted by BenarNews as saying: “Regarding the Sukhoi Su-35, with a heavy heart, yes, we have abandoned that plan. We can’t just keep talking about it.”
On top of that, Egypt stopped the deal for the supply of 30 Su-35 fighters, until the Russian side can solve the problem with imported components, despite the fact that about a dozen aircraft have already been produced.
Algeria, in turn, decided to concentrate its financial funds on the modernization of the Su-30SM fighters already supplied from Russia.
Rosoboronexport, Russia’s main arms exporter, declined to comment on Monday, but later Mehr News Agency reported that Russia is ready to sell Su-35 fighters to Iran.
Tehran will sign a 20-year agreement on military-strategic cooperation with Russia next month, according to Mehr News Agency. The agreement will include the purchase of $10 billion worth of Russian weapons by Iran, including S-400, satellites, and ex-Egyptian Su-35 fighter jets.