Russian Air Force Receives Newly Built Su-35 Fighters: Upgrades Continue as Production Expands

The Russian Aerospace Forces were confirmed on August 21 to have received a new batch of Su-35S fighter aircraft, at a time when deliveries to new clients outside Russia have been increasingly widely speculated. Commenting on the delivery of the latest batch of Su-35s, executive director of Rostec Oleg Yevtushenko reported: “The aviation plants of Rostec maintain a high production rate of aircraft under the state defence order. This year, several batches of Su-35S fighters have already been delivered to the troops, and this process does not stop, new aircraft are already in production for subsequent deliveries.” “The Su-35S is one of the most highly effective combat aircraft in the world. It is armed with long-range air-to-air and air-to-surface guided missiles. It also has an electronic countermeasures and defence system and other advanced avionics, making the fighter a true threat to the enemy,” he added.

Elaborating on the Su-35’s capabilities, the state run United Aircraft Corporation highlighted that the fighters are capable of operating in a wide range of roles, including escort duties and defence of ground targets, stressing that Russian pilots have expressed confidence in the aircraft. The delivery of the latest batch follows the completion of prior batch in the final week of June, and a batch before that in March, as well as the delivery of the first batch to the Algerian Air Force earlier in March. While only four batches of Su-35s were confirmed to have been delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2024, with production having remained at approximately 14 aircraft per year, General Director of the United Aircraft Coroporation Vadim Badekha in May confirmed that work was underway to expand production of the aircraft. The decision to do so thought have been influenced both y plans to expand the Russian fighter fleet with new procurements, and by the expectation of major new foreign orders.

Alongside Algeria, a number of sources have reported that the Iranian Air Force is scheduled to operationalise its first Su-35s before the end of 2025, with a long rumoured Iranian order having been confirmed in January. Iran’s fleet of close to 300 obsolete fighters, mostly Vietnam War era designs, makes entry into its market potentially highly lucrative due to the sheer numbers of new fighters its fleet can absorb. The possibility of further sales, in particular to North Korea to help cover the costs of the tens of billions of dollars’ worth of armaments the country has supplied to Russia, has also been widely speculated, although a number of sources have indicated that the Korean People’s Army Air Force is likely to prioritise procurements of the more advanced Su-57 fighter. The Su-35’s appeal to foreign clients, and its ability to remain viable against newer generations of fighters deployed by Russia’s adversaries in the Western world, are expected to be increased by the integration of new armaments and subsystems. The integration of an active electronically scanned array radar based on that developed for the new Su-57M1 fighter has been widely speculated.

Among the most significant developments since the Su-35 entered service in 2014 has been the confirmed integration of the R-77M air-to-air missile in late July, which has served to narrow the previously very wide gap in beyond visual range targeting capabilities between the aircraft and itstop performing American and Chinese rivals. The integration of a range of new munition types developed for the Su-57 fifth generation fighter, such as the Drel guided bomb and Kh-59MK2 cruise missile, have also been widely speculated.

Su-35s have played a leading role in air-to-air operations in the Russian-Ukrainian War since February 2022, and have claimed multiple kills against Ukrainian MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters, while suffering no confirmed losses in air-to-air combat. Ukrainian Air Force officials have lamented on multiple occasions that no fighters in the country’s fleet are capable of going head to head with the Su-35, with the F-16 and Mirage 2000 fourth generation fighters supplied by NATO members falling far short in their capabilities. The Su-35’s far from cutting edge radar, however, has imposed a number of limitations on its performance, with its beyond visual range capabilities proving to have fallen far short of those of the MiG-31BM interceptor that forms the elite of the Russian fleet.