The contract to sell Sukhoi Su-35 fighters to China, which is currently in preparation stage, will be a finished-product delivery agreement, rather than licensing agreement, Defense Industry Courier reports. This type of agreement provides for delivery of completely assembled aircraft to the customer. Representatives of the Chinese authorities will visit Russia over the next two weeks, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, to negotiate the contract signing date.
Rosoboronexport and China’s Defense Ministry signed a preliminary agreement to sell 24 Sukhoi Su-35 fighters to China in late 2012. It was reported at the time that a firm contract could be signed within the next two years, and deliveries would start after 2015. The value of the possible deal is estimated at US$ 1.5 billion.
It transpired in the spring of 2012 that Russia had convinced China to purchase 48 new Sukhoi Su-35 fighters, but a final agreement on the number of fighters to be delivered was never reached. Among other things, China was insisting on buying only four Russian aircraft. Russian negotiators said this contract would make little economic sense because of concerns that China may reverse engineer and copy the purchased fighters.
China may be interested in purchasing Su-35 fighters because of their AL-41F1S engines (also known as “Product 117S”), AINonline reports. Presumably, through the purchase of Sukhoi Su-35 fighters and a certain number of AL-41F1S engines for them, China would gain access to the Product 117S’ underlying technology and replicate them in its own engines for the advanced J-20 fighter.
