Su-35S Flanker-E

The Su-35S is the endpoint of four decades of Flanker evolution. It keeps the original integrated aerodynamic layout and adds more powerful three-axis vectoring engines, an entirely new radar and avionics suite, a strengthened structure, and greater internal fuel.

Its position is unusual: with the Su-57 slow to reach any scale, the Su-35S has in practice carried Russia's high-end air superiority role. That was not the design intent but the result of production and budget constraints — understanding this aircraft requires also understanding the fifth-generation type beside it, built in a fraction of the numbers.

Technologically it belongs with the F-15EX: a mature fourth-generation platform pushed to its limit, using absolute performance and affordable numbers to offset a generational gap. How far that approach goes depends on how many stealth aircraft the opponent fields.

The most visible external difference from the Su-27 is the three-axis vectoring nozzles, deflecting ±15° in both pitch and yaw and directly responsible for its supermanoeuvrability. The canards and dorsal airbrake trialled on the Su-27M were both deleted: the canards' trim benefit did not justify their weight and drag, and differential rudders replaced the airbrake.

The N035 Irbis-E has a large aperture and detection range near the top of its generation. But it is a passive array — a generational gap from the contemporary Western active arrays in both jamming resistance and multi-target handling. This is one core reason the Su-35S looks formidable on a specification sheet while combat assessments remain divided.

The airframe was comprehensively strengthened, raising service life from the Su-27's 2,000 flight hours to 6,000. That improvement appears in no performance figure yet directly determines lifecycle cost.