China receiving the remainder of an order of twenty-four SU-35 Russian jets in 2018

China paid US$2.5 billion for twenty-four SU-35 fighter jets which have thrust-vectoring engines for super-maneuverability.

The Su-35 is powered by two AL-117S turbofan engines and fitted with thrust-vectoring nozzles enabling it to perform post-stall maneuvers at low speeds.

The Su-35 also features a multifunctional radar capable of tracking up to 30 targets simultaneously – and purportedly able to engage with up to eight – as well as a newly integrated receiver for China’s Beidou satellite navigation system.

China will be able to learn to build better jets by learning from the technology in those planes.

75 thoughts on “China receiving the remainder of an order of twenty-four SU-35 Russian jets in 2018”

  1. A lot of it comes down to basic marketing and propaganda value. The S-400 is an upgrade of the S-300, and the T-90 is basically an upgrade of the T-72 platform. Realistically there is nothing preventing them from being named after their origin system but new names are more exciting.

  2. A lot of it comes down to basic marketing and propaganda value. The S-400 is an upgrade of the S-300 and the T-90 is basically an upgrade of the T-72 platform. Realistically there is nothing preventing them from being named after their origin system but new names are more exciting.

  3. Besides it being a favor to Russia’s bad economy – China is interested in any technology it can acquire and learn about. There are likely certain systems or innovations like thrust vectoring in the Su-35 which China would like to examine firsthand. For example, despite Russian planes generally having poor reliability and electronics compared to U.S. ones during the Cold War, the U.S. was pleased to obtain Mig-29s and Su-27s specifically to see their helmet-cuing and thrust vectoring systems. Russian rockets like Soyuz performed much better for their cost than U.S. equivalents until SpaceX came along as well. Just because you can build something more high tech doesn’t mean somebody hasn’t innovated in a way you might have missed.

  4. It’s almost certain Russia understood that the technology in the Su-35 would be reverse engineered without a license. The exact same situation happened with earlier Su-27 exports. China has been helping prop up Russia’s economy in many subtle ways to help offset damage done by sanctions. The real price being paid may actually be even higher than 104m per unit. There were probably agreements for military technology in exchange for financial assistance behind closed doors.

  5. Besides it being a favor to Russia’s bad economy – China is interested in any technology it can acquire and learn about. There are likely certain systems or innovations like thrust vectoring in the Su-35 which China would like to examine firsthand. For example despite Russian planes generally having poor reliability and electronics compared to U.S. ones during the Cold War the U.S. was pleased to obtain Mig-29s and Su-27s specifically to see their helmet-cuing and thrust vectoring systems. Russian rockets like Soyuz performed much better for their cost than U.S. equivalents until SpaceX came along as well. Just because you can build something more high tech doesn’t mean somebody hasn’t innovated in a way you might have missed.

  6. It’s almost certain Russia understood that the technology in the Su-35 would be reverse engineered without a license. The exact same situation happened with earlier Su-27 exports. China has been helping prop up Russia’s economy in many subtle ways to help offset damage done by sanctions. The real price being paid may actually be even higher than 104m per unit. There were probably agreements for military technology in exchange for financial assistance behind closed doors.

  7. J-20 is not an interceptor like SU-35, J-20 is a stealth strategy target destroyer, J-20’s mission is to destroy high value mission critical targets like command and communication centers.

  8. Russian is willing to sell SU-35 to China because Russian found Chinese follows the licensing agreement and contract to the dot, unlike the American who follows no agreements of any kind, tearing up agreements and contracts unilaterally at will. stealing other people’s technology then claims it as their own and uses Kangaroo court and 731 investigations to rob trillions of fines from companies from other nations. Yeah, the American is the global class mafia.

  9. Absolutely true, but asymmetrical warfare plus 50 nice fighter would be much less asymmetrical And if you add a couple of nukes 🙂

  10. China will be able to learn to build better jets by learning from the technology in those planes.” Sounds like exactly what happened the last time Russia sold China some military jets, and China started mass producing them without license or permission. They also swiped a lot of technology then too. I’m very surprised Russia repeated this mistake.

  11. India is buying these too, I believe. It’s the best option after the T-50 thing fell through. What about China’s J-20? If that’s so good, then why do they need this?

  12. Beacause those 50 planes would have to take on 500+ US machines. Iran sensibly does not try to have a massive air force but focuses on asymmetrical responses (AD, rocket technology, Hezbollah)

  13. I am wondering why Russia does not sell planes to Iran. I mean military planes Iran with 90% enriched uranium and 50 fighter planes would CRUSH the US in thee Gulf Why Russia is not helping Iran?

  14. J-20 is not an interceptor like SU-35 J-20 is a stealth strategy target destroyer J-20’s mission is to destroy high value mission critical targets like command and communication centers.

  15. Russian is willing to sell SU-35 to China because Russian found Chinese follows the licensing agreement and contract to the dot unlike the American who follows no agreements of any kind tearing up agreements and contracts unilaterally at will. stealing other people’s technology then claims it as their own and uses Kangaroo court and 731 investigations to rob trillions of fines from companies from other nations.Yeah the American is the global class mafia.

  16. Absolutely true but asymmetrical warfare plus 50 nice fighter would be much less asymmetrical And if you add a couple of nukes 🙂

  17. China will be able to learn to build better jets by learning from the technology in those planes.”” Sounds like exactly what happened the last time Russia sold China some military jets”””” and China started mass producing them without license or permission. They also swiped a lot of technology then too. I’m very surprised Russia repeated this mistake.”””

  18. India is buying these too I believe. It’s the best option after the T-50 thing fell through.What about China’s J-20? If that’s so good then why do they need this?

  19. Beacause those 50 planes would have to take on 500+ US machines. Iran sensibly does not try to have a massive air force but focuses on asymmetrical responses (AD rocket technology Hezbollah)

  20. I am wondering why Russia does not sell planes to Iran. I mean military planes Iran with 90{22800fc54956079738b58e74e4dcd846757aa319aad70fcf90c97a58f3119a12} enriched uranium and 50 fighter planes would CRUSH the US in thee Gulf Why Russia is not helping Iran?

  21. China steals all kinds of tech. Sure they invented paper and gunpower…what, a thousand years ago? Not much since then.

  22. Pravda.ru Russia infuriated with Chinese export copies of Su-27 jet fighters The Diplomat (saying exactly what I said) Why Would Russia Sell China Su-35 Fighter Jets? Given China’s history of stealing Russian defense technology, Moscow’s thinking is hard to understand.

  23. Shenyang J-11 from Wiki At the MAKS 2009, Rosoboronexport’s General Manager Anatoli Isaykin was quoted saying: “Russia is going to investigate the J-11B, as a Chinese copy of the Su-27 and Sukhoi Company is partaking in the process.”[10] In 2010, Rosoboronexport announced via their official website that it was in talks with the Chinese side, regarding the ongoing production of weapons that Russia considers as un-licensed. In light of the ongoing investigations, Rosoboronexport expressed its concern over future sales of advanced Russian systems and components to China. China shamelessly steals fighter jet technology from Russia See more at http://www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/22-04-2009/107437-fighter_jet-0/ http://www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/22-04-2009/107437-fighter_jet-0/

  24. China steals all kinds of tech. Sure they invented paper and gunpower…what a thousand years ago?Not much since then.

  25. Pravda.ruRussia infuriated with Chinese export copies of Su-27 jet fightersThe Diplomat (saying exactly what I said)Why Would Russia Sell China Su-35 Fighter Jets?Given China’s history of stealing Russian defense technology Moscow’s thinking is hard to understand.”

  26. Shenyang J-11 from WikiAt the MAKS 2009 Rosoboronexport’s General Manager Anatoli Isaykin was quoted saying: Russia is going to investigate the J-11B”” as a Chinese copy of the Su-27 and Sukhoi Company is partaking in the process.””[10] In 2010″” Rosoboronexport announced via their official website that it was in talks with the Chinese side regarding the ongoing production of weapons that Russia considers as un-licensed. In light of the ongoing investigations”” Rosoboronexport expressed its concern over future sales of advanced Russian systems and components to China.China shamelessly steals fighter jet technology from RussiaSee more at http://www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/22-04-2009/107437-fighter_jet-0/http://www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/22-04-2009/107437-fighter_jet-0/“””

  27. Russia sells military hardware to China for one very very simple reason: China/US opposition in Asia is good for Russia. Since when does Russia and the US sell each other military hardware? Lack thereof has nothing to do with contract compliance.

  28. Why do they (RF) keep incrementing the integer designator of the Su-27 flanker? The airframe clearly has much in common with the plane that has been flying since the 80s. It’s a good thing to incrementally improve and evolve a great platform – so don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying that the Ruskies always increment the number whereas the F/A-18E/F is much more different-er from the A/B/C models, and USA didn’t call it the F/A-38… There could be subtle reasons for that which associated with congressional shenanigans…

  29. Russia sells military hardware to China for one very very simple reason: China/US opposition in Asia is good for Russia. Since when does Russia and the US sell each other military hardware? Lack thereof has nothing to do with contract compliance.

  30. Why do they (RF) keep incrementing the integer designator of the Su-27 flanker? The airframe clearly has much in common with the plane that has been flying since the 80s. It’s a good thing to incrementally improve and evolve a great platform – so don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying that the Ruskies always increment the number whereas the F/A-18E/F is much more different-er from the A/B/C models and USA didn’t call it the F/A-38… There could be subtle reasons for that which associated with congressional shenanigans…

  31. And of course, the Russians would have just as many shennanigans associated with their naming as the Americans do.

  32. And of course the Russians would have just as many shennanigans associated with their naming as the Americans do.

  33. Israel has now about 10000 Iranian missiles pointed at them (or so) If they move one finger they will be rased

  34. Israel has now about 10000 Iranian missiles pointed at them (or so) If they move one finger they will be rased

  35. China is Russia biggest supporter of defense industries, sure, there’s many disputes but both need each other, thanks to America.

  36. China is Russia biggest supporter of defense industries sure there’s many disputes but both need each other thanks to America.”

  37. Besides it being a favor to Russia’s bad economy – China is interested in any technology it can acquire and learn about. There are likely certain systems or innovations like thrust vectoring in the Su-35 which China would like to examine firsthand. For example, despite Russian planes generally having poor reliability and electronics compared to U.S. ones during the Cold War, the U.S. was pleased to obtain Mig-29s and Su-27s specifically to see their helmet-cuing and thrust vectoring systems. Russian rockets like Soyuz performed much better for their cost than U.S. equivalents until SpaceX came along as well. Just because you can build something more high tech doesn’t mean somebody hasn’t innovated in a way you might have missed.

  38. It’s almost certain Russia understood that the technology in the Su-35 would be reverse engineered without a license. The exact same situation happened with earlier Su-27 exports. China has been helping prop up Russia’s economy in many subtle ways to help offset damage done by sanctions. The real price being paid may actually be even higher than 104m per unit. There were probably agreements for military technology in exchange for financial assistance behind closed doors.

  39. A lot of it comes down to basic marketing and propaganda value. The S-400 is an upgrade of the S-300, and the T-90 is basically an upgrade of the T-72 platform. Realistically there is nothing preventing them from being named after their origin system but new names are more exciting.

  40. Russia sells military hardware to China for one very very simple reason: China/US opposition in Asia is good for Russia. Since when does Russia and the US sell each other military hardware? Lack thereof has nothing to do with contract compliance.

  41. Why do they (RF) keep incrementing the integer designator of the Su-27 flanker? The airframe clearly has much in common with the plane that has been flying since the 80s. It’s a good thing to incrementally improve and evolve a great platform – so don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying that the Ruskies always increment the number whereas the F/A-18E/F is much more different-er from the A/B/C models, and USA didn’t call it the F/A-38… There could be subtle reasons for that which associated with congressional shenanigans…

  42. Pravda.ru
    Russia infuriated with Chinese export copies of Su-27 jet fighters

    The Diplomat (saying exactly what I said)
    Why Would Russia Sell China Su-35 Fighter Jets?
    Given China’s history of stealing Russian defense technology, Moscow’s thinking is hard to understand.

  43. Shenyang J-11 from Wiki
    At the MAKS 2009, Rosoboronexport’s General Manager Anatoli Isaykin was quoted saying: “Russia is going to investigate the J-11B, as a Chinese copy of the Su-27 and Sukhoi Company is partaking in the process.”[10] In 2010, Rosoboronexport announced via their official website that it was in talks with the Chinese side, regarding the ongoing production of weapons that Russia considers as un-licensed. In light of the ongoing investigations, Rosoboronexport expressed its concern over future sales of advanced Russian systems and components to China.
    China shamelessly steals fighter jet technology from Russia
    See more at http://www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/22-04-2009/107437-fighter_jet-0/
    http://www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/22-04-2009/107437-fighter_jet-0/

  44. J-20 is not an interceptor like SU-35, J-20 is a stealth strategy target destroyer, J-20’s mission is to destroy high value mission critical targets like command and communication centers.

  45. Russian is willing to sell SU-35 to China because Russian found Chinese follows the licensing agreement and contract to the dot, unlike the American who follows no agreements of any kind, tearing up agreements and contracts unilaterally at will. stealing other people’s technology then claims it as their own and uses Kangaroo court and 731 investigations to rob trillions of fines from companies from other nations.

    Yeah, the American is the global class mafia.

  46. “China will be able to learn to build better jets by learning from the technology in those planes.” Sounds like exactly what happened the last time Russia sold China some military jets, and China started mass producing them without license or permission. They also swiped a lot of technology then too. I’m very surprised Russia repeated this mistake.

  47. India is buying these too, I believe. It’s the best option after the T-50 thing fell through.

    What about China’s J-20? If that’s so good, then why do they need this?

  48. Beacause those 50 planes would have to take on 500+ US machines. Iran sensibly does not try to have a massive air force but focuses on asymmetrical responses (AD, rocket technology, Hezbollah)

  49. I am wondering why Russia does not sell planes to Iran.
    I mean military planes
    Iran with 90% enriched uranium and 50 fighter planes would CRUSH the US in thee Gulf Why Russia is not helping Iran?

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