China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) received the final batch of Sukhoi Su-35 ‘Flanker-E’ multirole fighter aircraft from Russia.
Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation told TASS on Tuesday that Russia has completed the deliveries of Sukhoi Su-35 generation 4++ fighter jets to China under a contract signed earlier.
“In compliance with the contract, all the Su-35 planes have been delivered to the foreign customer,” the Federal Service said.
The contract for Russian 24 multirole fighter aircraft is valued at more than $2.5 billion and was signed in 2015. The deal also stipulates the delivery of ground equipment and reserve engines. China had received the first 4 Su-35 fighters in 2016.
China has been the first foreign buyer of Russian Su-35 fighter aircraft. Indonesia is the second foreign buyer of Russian Su-35 fighter jets.
Reports emerged in early 2018 that Russia had signed a contract with Indonesia on the delivery of 11 fighters. Under the contract, Russia is due to deliver the first fighter jets to Indonesia this year. The fulfillment of the Indonesian contract ran across some difficulties related to US sanctions but a TASS source in military and diplomatic circles said these difficulties “are not critical” and should not affect the deliveries of fighter jets.
The Su-35S generation 4++ supersonic fighter jet performed its debut flight on February 19, 2008. The fighter jet is a derivative of the Su-27 plane. The Su-35S weighs 19 tonnes, has a service ceiling of 20,000 meters, can develop a maximum speed of 2,500 km/h and has a crew of one pilot. The fighter jet’s armament includes a 30mm aircraft gun, up to 8 tonnes of the weapon payload (missiles and bombs of various types) on 12 underwing hardpoints. The Su-35S has been in service with the Russian Army since 2015.
