Back from Le Bourget, we had some bad weather. But the Su-35S put on an amazing display, and it was also worth it to see the A400M and An-70, Tiger duo and Ka-52. Most 'normal' people seem to have come for the A380 though, and the airshow folks for the Su-35. Two Rafale displays and Patr. de France filled the gaps. Joking, there were others as well, but nothing too exciting. More will follow in a review post or report, so for now I posted some of the Su-35 pics here:
http://www.milavia.net/portfolios/niels/photos/181-full-Su-35S-take-off.htmlhttp://www.milavia.net/portfolios/niels/photos/180-full-Paris-Air-Show-Su-35S.htmlhttp://www.milavia.net/portfolios/niels/photos/182-full-Su-35S.htmlhttp://www.milavia.net/portfolios/niels/photos/183-full-Su-35S-afterburners.htmlMade quite some more photos, like those ones and more angles. It was great with the afterburner and vapor shots, but they all need some work.
The new color scheme, also sported by the latest Su-25SM and Su-34 aircraft, worked better in the grey sky than the Rafales (or any of the light grey ones) for me, but whether it's tactically great, I wonder, maybe when it sits on tarmac (most Russian fields still have concrete though). So as you can see this was not 901 or 902. It's a production aircraft, I haven't caught up yet with the info, but six aircraft were handed over for state testing. So I'm assuming this 07 will is the 7th aircraft for the Russian air force, but seems Sukhoi/Rosoboronexport is holding onto it for now to show it off (901 wasn't fully featured, 902 still test flying for Sukhoi afaik). I thought state testing was done, but maybe not, it's also possible some mods are needed. I guess we'll see in December if deliveries will include 07 or not. If so, great, then I've got a real Flanker in my collection now, not a prototype. If I heard the commentator correctly, the order for 48 will be followed on by another 48. If true/correct, that means 96 Su-35S... Maybe I've been sleeping, it would give the PAK-FA more time, although it's a lot for an interim fighter if you ask me. Wondering if the slowness of Su-27 upgrades has anything to do with that or they've run out of airframes with enough hours left to be considered worth it to upgrade. I'll soon dig into it.
Back to Index
Move to Top 
