By Franz-Stefan Gady
With a $2 billion contract, China becomes the first foreign buyer of the Russian Sukhoi Su-35.
China and Russia have finally signed a contract estimated to be worth $2 billion for the purchase of 24 Russian-made Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter jets, TASS reports, based on information obtained by the Komersant business daily.
“The protracted talks on Su-35 deliveries to China have ended. We have signed the contract,” Sergey Chemezov, director-general of the Russian state corporation Rostec, told Komersant.
“China has officially become the first foreign contractor of the Su-35 aircraft. The contract has no precedents in the history of military aircraft deliveries,” he added.
According to TASS, the 24 Su-35 fighter jets will be built at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association in Russia’s Far East. A high-level official in the Khabarovsk Territory government told TASS:
Closed talks between representatives of China and Russia were held on Sunday in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. These negotiations were in progress for several years; the Chinese military was interested in Su-35 fighters and the possibility of putting them into service in China. The contract was concluded on purchasing 24 Su-35 fighters.
The purchasing price per aircraft is estimated at $83 to 85 million.
Read the full story at The Diplomat