KRET is creating radar and other systems for the latest Russian fighter
Russia and China have signed a contract to purchase 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.
The Chinese military first expressed interest in the Russian fighter
back in 2008 during the aerospace show Airshow China. China's Air Force Commander
Colonel General Xu Qiliang then examined and evaluated the capabilities and characteristics of the fighter from
Sukhoi on the stand
. In 2011, the Chinese Defense Ministry officially asked Russia about buying Su-35 fighters.
A preliminary agreement was signed
at the end of 2012, and the subsequent coordination of technical and financial conditions took three years. According to
Kommersant, the delay was due to the fact that China requested to change the appearance of the aircraft and install its own avionics in the cockpit.
In May of this year, the Pentagon released a report suggesting the possibility of China purchasing Su-35 fighters from Russia. “To further strengthen its tactical air forces, China is likely to acquire from Russia the Su-35 fighters equipped with the advanced radar control system
Irbis,” the report concluded.
Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design (NIIP) and Ryazan State Instrument Enterprise (RSIE), both part of KRET, developed the Russian aviation radar
with passive phased array antenna.
By many indicators,
Irbis is superior to most foreign radars with passive and active phased array antennas. With this radar system, the Su-35 can detect targets at ranges up to 400 km, track up to 30 air targets at once, and simultaneously fire on eight of them.
Other KRET enterprises developed the “glass cockpit” and other avionics systems for the Su-35. In particular, KRET experts developed a new navigation system for the fighter, the SINS-SP2 strapdown
.