OREANDA-NEWS. July 22, 2010. The development and production of the 4++ generation Su-35 fighter is among priority programs of the Sukhoi Company. Under this program, a number of technologies are being optimized for operational use of a fifth-generation airborne combat complex.

Now the company is completing preliminary tests of the Su-35. The aircraft fully proves the claimed characteristics of the avionics and demonstrates super-maneuverable capabilities. The maximum ground-level speed attained is 1,400 km/h, speed at altitude – 2,500 km/h, and ceiling – 19,000 m. The target detection range in the air-to-air mode is over 400 km. This markedly exceeds the similar characteristics of in-service aircraft. The size of a target detected in the air-to-surface mode is up to 10 m. The onboard optic detection and ranging station detects and simultaneously tracks several targets at a range of more than 80 km. The complex is ready for pre-operational trials, announced the Director General of Sukhoi Mikhail Pogosyan today at the press conference at the Farnborough International Airshow-2010 Press Center.

Due to completion of preliminary tests and preparation for joint acceptance trials, the Russian Air Force pilots start participating in flights. The first pilot to fly the Su-35S was Alexander Kruzhavin, commander of a military unit. He valued highly the flight performance of the aircraft.

The Su-35S aircraft (a version for the Russian AF), along with the frontline aviation’s advanced airborne complex (FAAAC), will determine Russia’s defense capability. Under a state contract signed in 2009 to supply the Russian Defense Ministry till 2015 with forty-eight Su-35S aircraft, the Company’s facilities in Komsomolsk-na-Amure have launched serial production of fighters. The first one will be made available by the end of the year. Bulk deliveries will start in 2011. The technologies employed in the Su-35S program will enable the Russian AF to partially reequip the country’s air forces and to swiftly switch over to the next-generation machines.

Sukhoi is also holding talks with foreign customers anxious to re-arm their air forces. They are scheduled for the countries of South East Asia, Middle East and South America. The signing of new contracts will maintain Russia’s competitiveness on the global fighter market. The bulk exports are due to start in 2012.

Serial production of the Su-35 fighter and its delivery to customers will maintain Sukhoi’s competitiveness on the global combat aircraft market till a fifth-generation fighter emerges there in 2016-2025.

The Su-35 is a thoroughly upgraded super-maneuverable fighter of the 4++ generation. It employs technologies of the fifth generation that assure its superiority over similar class fighters. The special features of the aircraft include a new avionics suite based on digital information control system integrating onboard systems, a new radar with a phased antenna array having a long aerial target detection range with an increased number of simultaneously tracked and engaged targets (30 aerial targets tracked and 8 engaged plus the tracking of 4 and engagement of 2 ground targets), and new enhanced vectored thrust engines. The Su-35 has a diverse suite of long-, medium- and short-range weapons. It can carry guided aerial munitions for anti-radar and anti-ship actions as well as general purpose munitions, and guided and unguided aerial bombs. The radar signature of the fighter has been reduced by several times as compared to that of the fourth-generation aircraft by coating the cockpit with electro-conducting compounds, applying radio absorption coats and reducing the number of protruding sensors. The service life of the aircraft is 6,000 hours flight hours; the life cycle is 30 years of operation. The assigned service life of vectored thrust engines is 4,000 hours.