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| Older model (SU-30) Flanker |
By Trefor Moss
China is executing an ambitious defense modernization plan designed to make the country militarily self-sufficient by around the 2020s. So with a range of domestic fighter aircraft development programs in train – including the stealthy J-20 – it seems that buying new fighter jets from Russia probably wasn’t part of that plan.
Nonetheless, the Chinese have asked Russia to sell them the new Sukhoi Su-35 “Super Flanker” fighter aircraft, according to Alexander Fomin, deputy head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation. Cited by the Russian media, Fomin said that Beijing had filed a request for the S-35s – as well as S-400 air defense systems – back in 2011.
Read the full story at The Diplomat