Su-35 does not guarantee air superiority for the PLA Air Force: PLA Daily

Major figures within the People's Liberation Army Air Force have differing opinions about whether purchasing Su-35s from Russia really serves the interests of the Chinese military aviation industry, according to the Taipei-based Central News Agency (CNA) in an interview with Andrei Chang, a Canadian military analyst.

During a press conference held at the Singapore Air Show of 2014, Mikhail Pogosyan, the general director of United Aircraft Corporation, said that Russia is unlikely to support China copying its advanced fighters again as it did in the 1990s. Copying other nation's fighter will not bring any major improvement to the Chinese aviation industry, especially since the Su-35 is not a new fighter. China should design its own advanced fighter, Pogosyan said.

The Su-35 does not guarantee air superiority for the PLA Air Force in the next 10 years, a professor from the PLA Air Force Command College said in a commentary for the Party-run PLA Daily. A similar view is being shared by many important figures in the Chinese military, said Pinkov. The current consensus reached between Beijing and Moscow will provide 24 Su-35s along with Saturn AL-41s — also known as 117S engines — to China.

Still, both sides have not reached any agreement yet regarding the transfer of Su-35's technology to China. Even though Russia is trying to terminate its cooperation with China in designing new fighter, Pogosyan said that it will be more suitable for both nations to help each other in building wide-body commercial aircraft.

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