Article Posted on : - Aug 19, 2009

A Su-35 air force jet seen during the MAKS-2009 air show in Zhukovsky, Russia, on Tuesday. -- Image credit: AP

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian aviation giant Sukhoi has inked a deal with the Russian Air Force to supply 64 fighter jets which would include 48 Sukhoi Su-35S, twelve Su-27SM and four Su-30M2.

The deal was signed between the Russian Defense Ministry and Sukhoi at the MAKS 2009 aerospace show at Zhukovsky city near here on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

“The Russian Air Force will receive 48 Su-35 fighter jets before 2015, as well as twelve Su-27SM and four Su-30M2 in 2010-2011,” a source at the Defense Ministry press office was quoted as stating by the news agency.

Promising to deliver the fighters to the Air Force on time, Sukhoi Director General Mikhail Pogosyan said, “The delivery of new fighter jets will not only strengthen Russian defense and assist modernization of the Air Force but also help the switch to new technologies and new-generation fighters. “The company is ready to fulfill the contracts on time.”

“Long-term contracts will give jobs to plants and shift the emphasis from modernization of existent warplanes to production of new ones,” he added.