Chinese purchase of Su-35

Inst said:

Those numbers are shockingly low, tbh. The Russians also reported than the WS-10 had a thrust of 110 kN, when other sources report it between 125kN and 135kN. Other Russian sources themselves claim that the WS-15 is a 160 kN engine.

That said, I'd be skeptical as to whether or not Russia would supply advanced engines for the J-20, considering that the PAK-FA project is having problems and it would put the J-20 in the air before the PAK-FA. On the other hand, 117S has the critical thrust vectoring technology, which is not necessary for initial J-20s, but can be used later to develop more maneuverable J-20s, as well as a potential tailfinless variant. Getting the 117S in the bag now would greatly speed up development, considering that the WS-15 won't reach maturity before 2018 at the earliest and that initial work will target reliability and power, instead of a heavy TVC nozzle.

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Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge, said on Tuesday that it will be some time before the PLA commissions the domestically developed fifth-generation fighter jet, the J-20.

"After the J-20 joins the PLA, it will also take time for our pilots to familiarize themselves with the aircraft. So the Su-35 will help the PLA fill in the gap before it has enough J-20s."

"The Su-35 is very close to a fifth-generation combat aircraft in terms of flight maneuverability," Wang said, adding that technological advances represented by the Su-35 are another major attraction for the Chinese military.

The operational range of the Su-35 is much greater than the Su-27's, which means it will give China an edge over the South China Sea, he said.

"The PLA has a limited number of aerial refueling aircraft, and these tankers are not as good as those from the United States. That leads to a constrained operational range and flight duration for our existing fighter jets," Wang said.

"Combat jets capable of flying farther, like the Su-35, which boasts a larger fuel capacity than the Su-27, can substantially improve the PLA's presence over those waters."

Fu Qianshao, an aviation equipment expert with the PLA Air Force, said the Su-35 is sufficiently powerful to surpass the US Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II thanks to its supreme maneuverability.

"Despite the Su-35 having no stealth capability, it can still rival fifth-generation fighter jets in other aspects. Its service will complement our existing fourth-generation fleet of J-10s and J-11s," he said.

Song Xiaojun, a military commentator for China Central Television, said the first 24 Su-27s that were introduced to the PLA Air Force have started to be withdrawn from service, so the Su-35s are expected to fill the gap.

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supercat said:

It seems that the PLAAF thinks that Su-35 can be used to counter F-35 before the J-20 is widely available.

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BGA-Aeroweb estimates that each F-35 "A" aircraft currently costs taxpayers $129 million. (And that's the cheapest F-35 version. Carrier variant F-35Cs cost $170 million apiece, and an F-35B "hover" jet will set you back $183 million.)


In contrast, based on the Pentagon's most recent pricing data, a purchase of...

• 72 F-16C/D fighters, costing $27.4 million each, would cost less than $2 billion;
• 72 F-15E fighters, at $45.5 million each, would cost $3.3 billion;
• and 72 F/A-18E/F fighters, at $65 million apiece, would cost $4.7 billion.

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Russia and China have signed a contract to purchase

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fighters, as Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov told Kommersant. According to him, China will purchase 24 aircraft for $2 billion.

"The long negotiations for the supply of Su-35 to China have finished, and we signed the contract,” said Sergey Chemezov, as quoted by the newspaper.

Under the agreement, the Chinese Air Force will receive 24 fighter aircraft, worth about $2 billion, or about $83 million per jet. Thus, China has officially become the first foreign purchaser of Su-35 fighters.

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b787 said:

to compare prices



the Su-35 is quiet expensive, almost 2 F-15s can be bought by the same price and almost 3 F-16s, it is only cheaper compared to the F-35, you can buy 2 Su-35 for a single F-35

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DigoSSA said:

It's impossible to mix the internal purchase of a government, with foreign sales. The values are quite different. Dont forget that the manufacturer country already has borne the R&D costs and the profit margins are different.

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Russia will deliver another batch of 12 Sukhoi Su-30MK2 fighter aircraft under a recent contract worth about $450 million, a defense industry source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will deliver another batch of 12

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under a recent contract worth about $450 million, a defense industry source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

The contract was reportedly signed last week, and the Su-30s are expected to be delivered to Vietnam in 2014-2015.

“A similar modification, priced at $35-37 million per plane, had been earlier sold to China,” the source said.



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Jeff Head said:

The quote by the PLA aviation equipment expert, Fu Qianshao, is a critical one. If it is accurate, and if he indeed is an equipment personnel for the PLAAF of any rank and stature, then you have further strong evidence of the sale being actual.

I wonder what his rank is?

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