The Russian Defense Ministry and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) will sign a contract for the delivery of 48 Sukhoi Su-35 aircraft (NATO reporting name Flanker-E) at the MAKS-2015 air show in late August, local media reported Tuesday.
According to the Vedomosti newspaper citing defense and industry sources, the contract may amount to 100 billion rubles ($1.6 billion at current exchange rate).
Earlier this year, Russian media reported that the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer, a subsidiary of UAC, was planning on transferring 14 Su-35S fighter jets to the Russian Defense Ministry this year.
According to military expert Konstantin Makienko cited by Vedomosti, this deal will be the largest one for the Russian Air Force since 2012, when it signed contracts for the delivery of 92 Su-34 bombers and 60 Su-30SM fighter jets.
A Sukhoi SU-35 jetfigther performs its demonstration flight during the 50th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, north of Paris
Russia’s Su-35 fighter was first introduced to a foreign audience at the 2013 Paris Air Show as a “4++ generation” heavily-upgraded derivative of the Su-27 multirole fighter.
The MAKS-2015 international aviation and space show will be held in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow on August 25-30.
