Russia and China are close to sign a contract to supply 48 Su-35 worth about $ 4 billion.
“Russia and China are close to sign the biggest weapons contract between the two countries over the last decade. Russia almost agreed to supply China with 48 multifunctional Su-35 fighter worth 4 billion dollars.” – said the newspaper “Kommersant“, citing a source in Russian defense industry.
The newspaper said that Moscow demands from Beijing legal guarantees not to copy Russian fighters – to protect Russia from potential competitors in the markets. China is not in a hurry to give such guarantees.
“Moscow is seeking not only to provide a reserve for the Chinese market, but in the long run prevent third countries copying Russian aircraft for sale on the markets at dumped prices. Russia has its bottom line. Thus, the Chinese fighter J-10 is, in fact, a copy of Russian Su-27, J-11 – an analogue of the Su-30 and FC-1 copies from the MiG-29. “In this case all Russian planes are in the possession of Chinese engineers,” said a source from Russian government.