[Editor’s Note: The “Flanker-E” is one of the most formidable fighter’s in the Flanker family. Single-seat, multi-role, remarkably agile, and equipped with both excellent sensors and modern weapons, the Sukhoi Su-35S presents a significant air-to-air problem for an opposing Air Force. It looks as though the Russian Air Force will be bolstering its numbers of this particular critter very soon.]

The Russian Aerospace Force (VKS) ordered 50 Sukhoi Su-35S ‘Flanker E’ multirole fighters from Sukhoi in late December 2015, a United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) source told TASS-DEFENSE.

According to the source, the new order is valued at more than RUB60 billion (USD788 million) and the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant (KnAAZ, a Sukhoi affiliate) will build the aircraft. Thus, it will have had its hands full until 2020. In addition to this order, the period is to see the execution of China’s order for 24 Su-35S’s, while the company hopes to sign a contract with Indonesia for 12 aircraft soon. According to the source, initially, the Su-35S program was expected to pay its way after 72 aircraft had been built. If the contract with Indonesia is signed, a total of 134 fighters of the type will have been delivered to the customers before 2020.

According to the UAC source, talks with Algeria on 12 Sukhoi Su-32 tactical bombers – an export variant of the Su-34 ‘Fullback‘ – have made good progress, and the country may acquire up to 40 aircraft of the type.

Russia’s order in 2009 for 48 Su-35S’s has now been fulfilled, with most of the aircraft now delivered. A VKS Su-35S unit in Russia’s Eastern Military District started flying the Su-35S in late December 2015, while another unit in the Primorsky Territory is slated to receive Su-35S’s in 2016.

The Su-35S is billed by Sukhoi as a heavily upgraded fourth-generation super-maneuverable multirole fighter developed with the use of fifth-generation aircraft technologies. It features a sophisticated avionics suite based on a digital information management system, a cutting-edge radar with a long-range aerial target acquisition and increased multiple-target tracking/engagement capabilities, and enhanced thrust-vectoring engines.

The original article from IHS Jane’s 360 can be read here.

(Featured photo courtesy of Sputniknews.com)