Su 35 News

In a bid to secure its air space and deter military and surveillance aircraft of foreign nations from violating its borders, the Russian Air Force scrambled its fighter jets 18 times between August 23 and 30, 2019. While the Russian Defense Ministry did not identify the fighters scrambled, the country has a fleet of some of the most feared combat jets in its arsenal including Mikoyan MiG-29, Sukhoi Su-27, Su-30, Su-35 aircraft.

Russia's Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Director Dmitry Shugayev said on Wednesday that Turkey had initiated talks for buying the Sukhoi Su-35 and Su-57 fighters as the F-35 was no longer within its reach following the US sanction over S-400 Triumf air defence missile system.

Apart from the Russian Air Force, the Sukhoi Su-35 is in service with China's  People's Liberation Army Air Force. Indonesia, too, has ordered 11 Su-35 jets. An earlier report in Russian media had claimed that Turkey was also eyeing the Sukhoi Su-57 and Chinese Shenyang J-31 5th Generation fighters in lieu of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

The Sukhoi Su-35 is a multi-purpose, super-manoeuvrable fighter. Russian defence experts claim the Su-35 outscores all the 4 and 4+ Generation fighters currently flying and even incorporates several 5th Generation characteristics. Turkey's pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak had in early June 2019 reported that the country may opt for either Su-57 or Shenyang J-31, both 5th Generation jets, if the USA decided against the F-35 deal.

While the Finnish Air Force did not specify the number of F/A-18s scrambled for the intercept, it tweeted about the incident with photos of the Russian Su-35, Tu-160 and A-50 AEW&C. According to the force, most air policing missions are executed by its F/A-18 C/D Hornet multirole fighters standing on QRA rotation on air bases across the country.

However, Russian Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies Deputy Director Konstantin Makienko views are yet to gain currency in Russia with Moscow-based Center for Strategic Trends Studies Director Ivan Konovalov pointing out that India has been a friend for several decades and any move to sell state-of-art weapons to Pakistan carry very high risk.