Russian Air Force deal for 60 Sukhoi jets expected at Moscow air show

[SukhoiLover]

"MOSCOW, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Air Force could be in line for over 60 Su fighters worth at least 60 billion rubles ($1.9 bln) under a contract expected to be signed at the MAKS-2009 air show, a Russian defense source said on Monday.

"Contracts have been drafted to supply 48 Su-35, four Su-30M2 and 12 Su-27M fighters by 2015. They are expected to be signed on the opening day of the air show," the source said.

The Russian Defense Ministry is yet to provide official comment.

MAKS-2009 opens on Tuesday at the Zhukovsky airfield southeast of Moscow."

This news are somewhat confusing. Why would they buy the Su-27M ( Old Su-35 )?

[Viggen]

Did you see the images of the new Su30? I dont know how good it is, but the paintjob is first class. Very nice paintscheme.

[AVIATOR]

"MOSCOW, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Air Force could be in line for over 60 Su fighters worth at least 60 billion rubles ($1.9 bln) under a contract expected to be signed at the MAKS-2009 air show, a Russian defense source said on Monday.

"Contracts have been drafted to supply 48 Su-35, four Su-30M2 and 12 Su-27M fighters by 2015. They are expected to be signed on the opening day of the air show," the source said.

The Russian Defense Ministry is yet to provide official comment.

MAKS-2009 opens on Tuesday at the Zhukovsky airfield southeast of Moscow."

This news are somewhat confusing. Why would they buy the Su-27M ( Old Su-35 )?

This is a wild guess but they could be the final, expendable advance training for the pilots before they get the new stuff. There seems to be so much pilot error over there.
I bet they didn't pay much for them either. Probably thrown in in the deal.

[SukhoiLover]

Did you see the images of the new Su30? I dont know how good it is, but the paintjob is first class. Very nice paintscheme.

Where are the pics?

[SukhoiLover]

"MOSCOW, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Air Force could be in line for over 60 Su fighters worth at least 60 billion rubles ($1.9 bln) under a contract expected to be signed at the MAKS-2009 air show, a Russian defense source said on Monday.

"Contracts have been drafted to supply 48 Su-35, four Su-30M2 and 12 Su-27M fighters by 2015. They are expected to be signed on the opening day of the air show," the source said.

The Russian Defense Ministry is yet to provide official comment.

MAKS-2009 opens on Tuesday at the Zhukovsky airfield southeast of Moscow."

This news are somewhat confusing. Why would they buy the Su-27M ( Old Su-35 )?

This is a wild guess but they could be the final, expendable advance training for the pilots before they get the new stuff. There seems to be so much pilot error over there.
I bet they didn't pay much for them either. Probably thrown in in the deal.

Dunno, the Su-35 (new one) is part of the Russian Air Force modernization plan. They will be bought new and certainly willl cost some money (some experts stated around 65 million a piece some time ago).

The 4 Su-30 will probably go for training operations.

Now 12 Su-35 ( old one ) is really confusing me. This one is the old Su-35 project, the one who had canards, and i really don´t understand why they want to buy them.
The thing is, Sukhoi built around 17 Su-35´s (Su-27 M) and most of them are in service with the Russian Air Force ( with the russian knight to be more precise ) and the others are test aircraft for the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

This means that is the Russian Airforce wants some more Su-27M, Sukhoi will have to build new ones, and each one will cost about 30 millions, thats for sure.

But why invest that money in a old project when you could spend it in a new more capable project (new Su-35) ?

[Viggen]

Did you see the images of the new Su30? I dont know how good it is, but the paintjob is first class. Very nice paintscheme.

Where are the pics?

Sorry, i meant the Su35. 

The photos can be found here:
http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20090414/121081244.html

[SukhoiLover]

Did you see the images of the new Su30? I dont know how good it is, but the paintjob is first class. Very nice paintscheme.

Where are the pics?

Sorry, i meant the Su35. 

The photos can be found here:
http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20090414/121081244.html

Yeah, i saw it, its one of my fav so far.

[Webmaster]

This news are somewhat confusing. Why would they buy the Su-27M ( Old Su-35 )?

Nah, clearly they mean the Su-27SM upgrade. But because Su-27 sans suffix (= Su-27P/Su-27S), this produced the confusing Su-27M. The M just means modernized, thus the media/airforce/companies might use it regardless of previous "modernized" variants of the same aircraft.

Su-25SM might also end up being called Su-25M. Just wait for it... And as the MiG-31M didn't quite happen, the MiG-31BM might also end up just being called MiG-31M...

The Su-30M2 is not the "old" Su-30M2 proposal either, but the localized Su-30MK2 or it means four Su-30 are upgraded to similar standard, thus probably N001VEP (uhm, I guess the E is Export, thus N001VP? Anyhow, the N001V radar with Pero antenna)  rather than the N011M previously planned for a "Su-30M2".

[Webmaster]

The thing is, Sukhoi built around 17 Su-35´s (Su-27 M) and most of them are in service with the Russian Air Force ( with the russian knight to be more precise ) and the others are test aircraft for the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

In total 17 Su-27M aircraft were built by Sukhoi and KnAAPO; five prototypes converted from Su-27s, two static test airframes, six pre-production test aircraft, three production aircraft, and one Su-35UB prototype.

'Prototype' 703 became Russian Knights number1, 712 became RK 2, ex-GLITS 'Production' 86 became RK 3, 87 became RK 4 & 88 became RK 5. All five were repainted, but not flown by the Russian Knights - they are sitting at Kubinka air base... (courtesy of Ken Duffey)

Look at the Russian Knights photos, no Su-27M, but I guess they could replace the loss... provided they've not rotted away, which seems quite likely... However someone somewhere wrote not too long ago the RK would get brand-new Su-35, makes sense, longer life.

[F-111 C/C]

At least it's not too confusing

[SukhoiLover]

The thing is, Sukhoi built around 17 Su-35´s (Su-27 M) and most of them are in service with the Russian Air Force ( with the russian knight to be more precise ) and the others are test aircraft for the Sukhoi Design Bureau.

In total 17 Su-27M aircraft were built by Sukhoi and KnAAPO; five prototypes converted from Su-27s, two static test airframes, six pre-production test aircraft, three production aircraft, and one Su-35UB prototype.

'Prototype' 703 became Russian Knights number1, 712 became RK 2, ex-GLITS 'Production' 86 became RK 3, 87 became RK 4 & 88 became RK 5. All five were repainted, but not flown by the Russian Knights - they are sitting at Kubinka air base... (courtesy of Ken Duffey)

Look at the Russian Knights photos, no Su-27M, but I guess they could replace the loss... provided they've not rotted away, which seems quite likely... However someone somewhere wrote not too long ago the RK would get brand-new Su-35, makes sense, longer life.

Makes sense. Let me add that 711 became the Su-37.

About the RK Su-35´s, i think i saw somewhere that they were being cannibalized for parts, i think it was on Yefin´s book.

About the Su-30´s, i thought that too, however i disagree with you in one point, with the advent of the Irbis radar i think that all these new aircraft will have the Irbis equiped on them, after all, if the Russian Airforce really wants to modernize itself, then it makes no sense to take a lesser radar home.