Chinese purchase of Su-35

The SU35 has a long range which makes a bomber escort a good option, The Main issues for the SU35 will be how it integrates with the communications and digital systems of the PLAAF.

SinoSoldier said:

If the Su-35 were indeed "superior" to Chinese Flankers, the PLAAF would've purchased a lot more than merely 24 airframes and wouldn't be in the process of building the J-15/16/11D. As it is, the Su-35 remains a stop-gap measure until more advanced Chinese Flankers are deployed in numbers (the J-11D is still in flight test stage and the J-16 are quite few in number).

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do you think 2 billion is a cheap price tag for only 24 aircraft?
Do you know China paid 2.5 billion for the license of J-11?
China will try to buy a few examples, but Russia will sell expensive aircraft.

The aircraft has engines more powerful, thus these engines allow better acceleration and climb rate, the aircraft has improved aerodynamics, no J-11 has better engines, there is no point to buy 117s if you have something better, performance wise, no J-11 will be better, at least until they have a better engine.


In range and payload the Su-35 is much better carries more fuel, has more thrust.

Conclusion it will very likely deployed in the South China sea specially with super cruise ability.

Range wise, su35 is no better than su27 (and presumably then also j11). its 3600 km range is nothing special.

It may seem that 70Km is not much of an improvement but every bit helps. more important might be the max takeoff weight of 34,500 Kg compared to 33,000Kg, a faster rate of climb,
The numbers here are incremental but drip drop, these likely lead the chinese to place the order even if it is small

Totoro said:

Range wise, su35 is no better than su27 (and presumably then also j11). its 3600 km range is nothing special.

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Graphs show under what conditions, a manual as to show you under what conditions the Su-35 achieves the 3700 km max range, well it is at max fuel but it does not mention if it has weapons or not or at what cruising speeds

This is really like a nationalistic game of comparing katanas and greatswords; who cares whether the Su-35 is superior to the late-model J-11s? They're both 4th generation air superiority aircraft in a world where they've been superseded by stealth aircraft. The comparative advantages of the J-11D and the Su-35s as fighter models, instead of as technological development platforms, are insufficient to compensate for the big differentiator: who produces them. Beyond the novelty of TVC, the Chinese are better off with aircraft that they themselves produce, because they pay less and are not limited by the political logistics of a foreign supplier.

Inst said:

This is really like a nationalistic game of comparing katanas and greatswords; who cares whether the Su-35 is superior to the late-model J-11s? They're both 4th generation air superiority aircraft in a world where they've been superseded by stealth aircraft. The comparative advantages of the J-11D and the Su-35s as fighter models, instead of as technological development platforms, are insufficient to compensate for the big differentiator: who produces them. Beyond the novelty of TVC, the Chinese are better off with aircraft that they themselves produce, because they pay less and are not limited by the political logistics of a foreign supplier.

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The first flight of Su-35 was performed with the company of a Su-30MK . This made it possible to compare the characteristics of both aircraft. When I performed at maximum acceleration without afterburner mode, the pilot of the Su-30MK had to use afterburner. However, while it stayed behind. Of course, there is shown the dependence of the pick-up of the power plant performance and on how the pilot controls the throttle. Nevertheless, the flights it was obvious that the Su-35 has a large excess of thrust, and shows a greater rate of increase of speed.

Now there is a detailed analysis of the flight. For me, the question is still open as a result of the extreme flight. It evaluated the Su-35 acceleration characteristics. There was a great feature. Preliminary analysis shows that at medium altitudes, when the engine is at military power without afterburner airplane mode is on a small supersonic speed, and it continued to accelerate. During acceleration the aircraft entered the Mach number M-1.1. However, I have not reached the maximum level flight speed as walked to the border allowed supersonic flight zones and was forced to return to the "subsonic".

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Su-35 basically supercruises and Sukhoi reported the news

Yet Inst, the PLAAF did place the Order, There must be a reason behind that order. It makes sense that they decided that the seemingly minor improvements were justifiable for placing the order, but not so much that they would terminate the existing indigenous Flanker line. rather to supplement the lines.

4 units were received of a order of 24, presumably another delivery will take place later this year perhaps 5-10 units I Imagine 2 years to fill the obligation assuming the Russians milk it for all it's worth.

The Fact is the PLAAF high command and PRC Leadership deemed the SU35 a mission need.
The Why could be a number of factors,
All indications are that in 2020 neither T50, J20, or FC31 will have anywhere near the numbers or production rate already seen by F35 today. at most none of those three types will have breached a few dozen machines. As such to try and counter near term the fifth gens The PLA leadership may feel the need to bring in the most advanced fourth generation fighters they can get, to sure up their numbers and fill missing gaps.
or perhaps
The SU35 small order may be followed by improved J11's closer to SU35 performance
or to allow the builders to focus on filling Naval J15 orders well the Air forces top up on Su35's.

Are you aware of the fact that the Eurofighter can also supercruise, as can the F-35? The difference is practicality; the F-22 and PAK-FA can supercruise with combat loads, whereas whereas the Eurofighter and F-35 cannot supercruise with combat loads, due to increased weight and induced drag. Sukhoi has not been able to get the PAK-FA to supercruise with a combat load nor is it advisable to try; without an internal bay weapons loads will significantly increase drag. Likewise, supercruise ranges are lower than subsonic cruise ranges, sacrificing the advantages of the Su-35's range.

Inst F35 can supercruise with weapons, it has 2 internal bays.