Well we need to start evaluating SU35..F16 has reached the age of scrap now!
The Pakistan Air Force is looking at other options including the Russian SU35, the Chinese J10 and the Chinese J20 stealth fighter, according to a senior foreign ministry official.
Russian are broke they need money, As long as Pakistan pay cold hard cash, they will sell. I think the only delay in getting SU-35 is type of armament and modification Russian are willing to sell or allow Pakistan to do. J-20 isn't matured, neither do F-35 and Pak Fa but these fighters are still ages ahead of non-stealth platforms.
Su-35 is also a good option but they if Pakistan will buy them they will be in few numbers just maybe
I do not understand this newfound fascination of Pakistanis with flankers. I mean it is ret@rded at so many levels.
1. India is second largest operator of flankers in the world (It has 4 times more Su 30 than Russia and only 40 less than total number of flankers with Russia). India has practically written operation manual of flankers.
I mean a purchase of any flanker by Pakistan would be even worse than purchase of F-16 by India. In case of F-16, at least there is USA and other NATO and non-NATO allies who have more experience than Pakistan, but in case of flankers, not even Russia has as much experience as India.
2. Flankers are one of the most costly military hardware in term of LCC. The maximum that Pakistanis could afford (a squadron at max) is going to do diddly squat against 300+ flankers that India would field. The whole fantasy of bombing India using jets is just that, a fantasy.
3. Su-35 does not bring any significant technological superiority over Indian Su-30MKI. It may be improvement over Russian Su-30, but India does not field vanilla version of Su30. It field souped up MKI version which has Indian, Israeli, French, and Swedish avionics. IAF has already tested Su-35 and rejected it out of hand as it did not had any significant advantage over MKIs, and MLUed MKIs would be superior to Su-35.
4. Su-35 has no future for a country like Pakistan. Su-35 is a gap filler for RuAF till it get enough FGFA/PAK-FA in numbers. There is no separate R&D project going on for upgrades of Su-35. All its technological improvements would be spin-offs of PAK-FA/FGFA project.
If Pakistanis have have forgotten it, I would like to remind them that FGFA/PAK-FA is Indo-Russian joint venture. All Intellectual property generated by it would be co-owned by India and Russia, which means that India could block sale of any equipment based on that IP (like Radar upgrades, Radar absorbent coatings etc) to third parties like Pakistan, and this time blacking would not be on lines of " Oh dear Ruskies! our bestest oldest friend! why you sell to Pakistan? why? why?", but on lines of " Hey! IP on which that radar is based is our property too. We forbid any sale of such radar to Pakistan".
In effect Su-35 that Pakistan would get is a monkey model which would not be up-gradable unless Russians specifically do R&D to improve Su-35, rather than ploughing tech generated by FGFA program into Su-35 (which would be economical option).
In Twin engines, Chinese models are limited to inferior dual engine models like JH-7 as Chinese J-11 are copied Russian design and exporting them would create a diplomatic row between China and Russia.
Personally, I think PAF should have inducted a European plane to diversify its inventory, whether it was Mirage-2K in 1990s or Gripen in 2000s. By making its airforce F-16 only, it has put all its eggs in one basket.
Russian are broke they need money, As long as Pakistan pay cold hard cash, they will sell..
Yes, Russians are broke; but what does Pakistan has to offer?
Just two deals that India is negotiating with Russians , FGFA and S-400, are worth north of $50 Billion. Why would Russia jeopardize its sale to India when the best you can offer is couple of Billions.
Especially after when you have shown your hand. You are too broke to pay even for F-16s (much cheaper plane in sticker price and maintenance value) and are being humiliated because you want them to be practically free. What makes you think that Russia would risk its trade with India for a country which has no money?
Mig-35 is not in Pakistan airforce mind but Su-35 is and it will come for two reasons
1). If india goes for rafale.
2).We need an aircraft dedicated for maritime operations for which Su-35 fits very finely
Note:
-- Pakistan is not very serious about F-16's. The only reason we are going for it because it is coming in free with some good technology and we are used to it
-- America needs Pakistan more than ever and so they will try their best to keep us happy
Go for Mig 35, that is one of my favorites
You have better chances of getting Mig-35 from Russia than Su-35.
Indian orders are bread and butter of Sukhoi and it would lobby against any sale to Pakistan with Russian defence ministry. While in case of Mig-35, if India objects, Russians would simply ask India to make up for lost sale opportunities by ordering Mig-35 which India would not do, hence clearing path for Pakistani sale.
India is Russia depended,
Much less than you think. While India has a lot of Russian equipment by Quantity, baring few like Su-30 and Mig-29K, are low tech, whose spares if blockaded by Russia could be easily manufactured by India.
Even for Su-30 ,we have reached the stage where we could manufacture them from Raw materials and India is an recognized (by Sukhoi) OEM of Su-30 spares which India could sell to other countries after paying royalty to Sukhoi. Though Migs would be grounded without Russian spares. Su-30 and T-90/72 would not.
They would loose much more money with the Indian backlash.
It is not just money, but also market and influence. US ,recently, has extended a kind of blank cheque to India ,if India come fully into US camp and ditches Russia and become proactive against China.
In this scenario, if Russia start acting like USA does, it would lose its USP of not being USA.
+ This Su-35 fantasy is product of some feel good talk of Vladimer Igorevich Kozhin ,an aide to Putin. Russian foreign minister has officially debunked any such sale or talks of it.
For more reason, see above posts.
I think
@MastanKhan should also read this post as he too has delusion about Su-35, which he brings up in most of his threads.