plawolf
Lieutenant General
Well, the deal is essentially a gift for Russia (and/or paying Russia for other services rendered, like, I don't know, maybe putting Uighur terrorists high on their target list for explosive liquidation?
)Putting in Chinese radar and avionics would be to ensure the Su35s are as useful for the PLAAF as possible so that they can work seamlessly with other Chinese assets and to avoid China having to buy a load of weapons nothing else in their inventory can use.
Possible, but unlikely. The two are undoubtedly collaborating in installing and integrating Chinese radar and avionics on the Su35 airframe (its far easier and cheaper to just build the planes with the Chinese systems installed from the start), but I seriously doubt they would offer this package to anyone else.
The Russians wouldn't really be interested, as it would pose the same logistical headaches for them as Su35 with Russian radar and avionics would have for China, and since a huge part of any big ticket arms sales, like fighter jets, is actually the weapons and support packages, the Russians would want that piece of the pie for themselves rather than gift that to China.
In addition, you have Russian pride and reputation to think about.
International arms sales matter far more to Russia than China.
For the Russians to use Chinese radars and avionics on their new Su35s would be as good as them admitting that the Chinese systems are superior. That would massively harm the future sales prospects of Russian arms, and quite simply, they will never allow that.
Even if Russia one day buys major weapons systems from China, like warships and/or drones/planes etc, they will probably insist on the same deal as they are giving China with the Su35 and want to install their own key systems.
This deal may set an interesting precedent for future Sino-Russian arms deals, but that would be an exclusive relationship between the two that is not normally offered to anyone else interested in buying arms from them.
