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Russia and China have clinched a preliminary agreement on the delivery of 48 Sukhoi Su-35BM fighter jets to the Chinese air force, sources in Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said on Wednesday.
The agreement worth 1.5 billion dollars may add to the Su-35 foraying into international markets even though Russia’s cooperation with China in this field is fraught with substantial risks.
The Su-35BM is the modernized version of the T-10C platform that helped create the internationally distinguished Su-27 and Su-30 multi-role fighters. They have become the Russian-made warplanes of choice for foreign customers in the past twenty years.
Remarkably, it was China that contributed to the Su-27’s breakthrough into the global markets. Between 1991 and 1996, Moscow and Beijing signed a spate of deals on the delivery of the Su-27SK and Su-30MKK fighters to the Chinese air force. A total of 26 SU-27SKs were supplied to China at the time.
Shortly after, Russia inked similar agreements with India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Algeria and other countries. As for China, it gradually started to copycat production of the Su-27, something that finally led to the creation of the J-11 fighter, a replica of the Su-27 plane. Despite the fact that the J-11’s general characteristics yield to those of the Su-27, the very fact of copycatting added significantly to the development of China’s military aircraft industry and the modernization of the Chinese air force in the early 2000s.
As for the Su-35 fighters, Beijing has repeatedly signaled its readiness to purchase them from Russia, with the latter understandably seeking to prevent a potential copycat production of the Su-35 by China. In this regard, Beijing will hardly guarantee the protection of copyrights on the production of Su-35, experts say, adding that the more such planes are delivered to China the less copycat-related risks Russia will face. At least 50 Su-35s should be supplied to China so that such risks can be resolved.
Another option is to supply a simplified version of the Su-35 to China, something that analysts say may well be used in practice.
However, the only best way to avoid the Su-35 being copycatted is to reduce drastically the delivery of Russia’s high-tech military equipment to China in the near future. Compensating for potential loses would be possible with the help of domestic orders to this effect.
This story first appeared on Voice of Russia & is reposted here with permission.