The Sukhoi Su-35 made its maiden flight on February 19, 2008, and officially entered operational service with the Russian Aerospace Forces in February 2014.
Let’s examine what makes this fighter jet truly special and why NATO is constantly monitoring its battlefield performance in the Ukraine war.
What Makes the Su-35 Special
As to what differentiates it from the Su-27, AeroCorner provides these insights:
“The Su-35 has been given some comprehensive modernizing upgrades over its ancestor. It features advanced thrust-vectoring engines for increased maneuverability, an improved avionics suite, and a passive electronically scanned array radar system….Additionally, the aircraft possesses a drastically reduced infrared signature due to the use of advanced material used in the manufacturing design process compared to its predecessor.”
The website also notes that the Su-35 Flanker-E/M has a more powerful engine than its predecessor.
Su-35 Fighter: Additional Specifications:
-Fuselage Length: 21.9 m (71 ft 10 in)
-Wingspan: 15.3 m (50 ft 2 in)
-Height: 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in)
-Empty Weight: 19,000 kg (41,888 lb)
-Max Takeoff Weight: 34,500 kg (76,059 lb)
-Max Airspeed: 2,400 km/h (1,500 mph, 1,300 kn) / Mach 2.25
Armament-wise, the Su-35 packs a 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 autocannon with 150 rounds of ammunition, along with 12 hardpoints with a payload capacity 8,000 kg (17,630 lb) of ordnance; this includes the capability of carrying nine air-to-air missiles and seven air-to-surface missiles, such as the Kh-59MK2 Ovod/ Овод (“Gadfly;” NATO reporting name AS-18 “Kazoo”) cruise missile
151 airframes have reportedly been built thus far.
Operational History of the Su-35
The Su-35 was first “blooded” in combat in January 2016, when Vladimir Putin decided to show solidarity with Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad against a hodgepodge opposition of Islamic State/ISIS/Da’esh terrorists, Al-Qaeda terrorists, the Tahrir al-Sham, and the Free Syrian Army, deploying four of the fighters in air-to-ground strikes against these rebels.
More recently, during Putin’s seemingly never-ending “special military operation” in Ukraine, the Flanker-E/M has scored one confirmed air-to-air kill against a Ukrainian Naval Aviation Mil Mi-14 helicopter, along with the possible shootdown of four Ukrainian Air Force Su-27s (oh, the irony).
In exchange, five Russian Su-35s have been destroyed during the campaign; one by (not so) “friendly fire,” and four by Ukranian air defenses such as the MIM-104 Patriot missile.
Future Prospects of the Su-35
As I reported in an April 2024 article for Simple Flying, Iran was supposedly poised to start taking initial delivery of Su-35s to fulfill part of an order for 24 airframes. The Flanker-E/M was one of the items in an arms deal between Russia and Iran signed back in November 2023; this package deal reportedly also included Mil Mi-28 helicopter gunships (official NATO reporting name “Havoc;” informal nickname “Night Hunter”0 and S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 “Growler”)_ surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
However, a few short days after those initial reports had been announced in Forbes, the Student News Network (SNN), a propaganda arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), denied and then deleted the reports, declaring them false.
So, as of this writing, Russia’s Su-35 deliveries to Iran remain very much up in the air (pardon the pun).
But could other nations be interested as well? Back in 2019, Turkey was reported as another potential export customer of the Flanker-E/M, another indicator of the increasingly cozy relationship between Vladimir Putin and Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s ostensible status as a NATO member notwithstanding. Russia made the offer to Turkey due to Erdogan’s anger at being removed from the F-35 program by the United States as a punitive response to Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 missile system. Sergey Chemezov, CEO of the Russian State Corporation Rostec, was quoted as stating, “If our Turkish colleagues express a desire, we are ready to work out the deliveries of Su-35 fighter jets”.
China Flies the Su-35
That leaves the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the only current foreign customer of the Su-35. According to the World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft (WDMMA), the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) currently has 24 airframes in its arsenal. Deliveries took place between 2016 and 2018. However, an anonymous Chinese defense industry insider told Asia Times in April 2022 that the PRC does not intend to purchase any additional Flanker-E/Ms, as they consider it to be inferior to the homegrown Shenyang J-16 “Hidden Dragon” (歼-16 潜龙/Jiān-16 Qián Lóng; NATO reporting name: “Flanker-N“ [yes, yet another “Flanker variant”]) in terms of radar, navigation system and other electronic components.
Other countries listed as potential customers of the Su-35 at one time or another include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, and Algeria. However, none of these have come to fruition, all of which cast doubt upon the fighter’s foreign military sales (FMS) prospects.
About the Author and Expertise: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).
