Russia Receives Sixth Su-35S Fighter Jet Batch in 2025 Signaling Rapid Combat Fleet Expansion
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United Aircraft Corporation, part of Rostec, delivered another batch of Su-35S fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces on November 1, according to TASS. Open-source tallies indicate this is at least the sixth Su-35S delivery reported in 2025, a faster tempo with implications for force readiness and procurement timelines.
On 1 November 2025, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), part of the state tech conglomerate Rostec, delivered another batch of Su-35S multirole fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to the Russian news agency Tass. This delivery is at least the sixth Su-35S transfer to Russian units reported since the start of the year and reflects a clearly accelerated production rhythm aimed at reinforcing frontline airpower. This tempo, noticeably higher than the one publicly reported in 2024, has immediate consequences for force readiness, procurement timelines and regional airpower balances, making the development relevant for military planners, intelligence communities and policymakers following Russia’s wartime industrial output.
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The Su-35S is Russia’s advanced multirole fighter jet featuring supermaneuverability, long-range sensors, and powerful air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities (Picture Source: Russian MoD/Rostec)
The Su-35S is a deeply modernized evolution of the Su-27 family, optimized for air superiority while retaining significant capabilities for strike missions and maritime target engagement. Powered by twin engines with thrust-vectoring nozzles, featuring long combat radius and high maneuverability across the envelope, the aircraft combines a high-performance radar and sensor suite with the ability to employ long-range air-to-air missiles and precision-guided surface-attack weapons. Rostec’s statement emphasized the aircraft’s capacity to operate day and night, in adverse weather and at extended ranges from home bases. Russian pilots and officials have repeatedly described the type as a reliable and versatile platform suited to the wide mission set currently required of operational-tactical aviation, from air defense of key regions to combat sorties in expeditionary theaters.
The Su-35S program followed a pragmatic path that reused a proven airframe while integrating updated avionics, improved propulsion, and modernized weapons, reducing time to serial production and limiting costs compared with designing a new platform from scratch. In operational service, the aircraft has been employed in homeland air defense, long-range patrols, deterrent shows of force and combat support roles, including air-to-air engagements and missions against enemy air defenses. The current rise in output points to an industrial shift from a steady, moderate production rate to a sustained higher one, enabling faster squadron formation, replenishment of aircraft lost or worn in operations, and a larger pool of mission-ready fighters available to commanders.
Compared with earlier Su-27/Su-30 derivatives, the Su-35S offers significantly improved sensor range, more capable onboard electronics and a broader weapons integration portfolio, which together increase situational awareness and engagement flexibility. In comparison with fifth-generation aircraft, it deliberately accepts higher observability in exchange for immediate availability, larger payload capacity and lower unit cost, positioning the Su-35S as a practical solution for generating massed combat aviation. When set against contemporary Western fourth-generation fighters such as the F-15 or Rafale, the Su-35S remains competitive in thrust-to-weight ratio, range and maneuverability, while differences persist in areas such as sensor fusion, data-centric sustainment, networked operations and interoperability with allied air forces. Its key operational advantage lies in the combination of high sortie generation, integration of long-range weapons and the existence of a mature domestic industrial base capable of scaling deliveries on short notice.
The strategic implications of six publicly reported deliveries in a single year are non-trivial. At the regional level, a faster-growing fleet of high-performance fighters improves Russia’s ability to impose air denial, protect critical infrastructure and project power into contested or NATO-proximate airspaces, complicating air defense planning in neighboring states. At the broader geostrategic level, building up a large non-stealth but powerful fighter inventory supports a layered deterrence posture: it raises the number of credible interceptors and long-range strike platforms available for both defensive counter-air and offensive strike taskings. From a force-generation standpoint, concentrated deliveries shorten the time needed to field complete units, facilitate rotational deployments, and mitigate the operational effects of attrition, enabling Russian planners to maintain more resilient and dispersed air groupings. Overall, the pattern of deliveries signals a choice to prioritize numbers alongside capability, a choice that will influence operational doctrine and regional airpower calculations.
Financial and contracting specifics in the latest disclosure remain deliberately general. Rostec and UAC framed the handover as part of the ongoing state defense order without indicating the exact number of aircraft delivered in the batch or the specific recipient regiments. UAC leadership has, however, repeatedly underlined the goal of meeting elevated production targets for operational-tactical and transport aviation in 2025, which suggests high state prioritization of combat aircraft output. Although the Su-35 family has been the subject of export interest and previous foreign contracts, current official reporting is focused on domestic deliveries to the Russian Aerospace Forces, with no new export transactions announced in connection with this latest batch.
The renewed, high-frequency deliveries of Su-35S fighters over the past year therefore represent more than an industrial milestone; they amount to an operational shift that materially increases the number of modern, mission-capable aircraft available to Russian air commanders. This increase will shape squadron basing and deployment options, accelerate replacement of aircraft lost in ongoing operations, and feed into deterrence calculations in Europe, the Arctic and adjacent theaters. For defense ministries, intelligence services and allied air forces, the Su-35S production surge will remain a key indicator of Russia’s ability to regenerate and sustain tactical aviation despite sanctions and wartime expenditure and will continue to be monitored accordingly.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
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United Aircraft Corporation, part of Rostec, delivered another batch of Su-35S fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces on November 1, according to TASS. Open-source tallies indicate this is at least the sixth Su-35S delivery reported in 2025, a faster tempo with implications for force readiness and procurement timelines.
On 1 November 2025, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), part of the state tech conglomerate Rostec, delivered another batch of Su-35S multirole fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces, according to the Russian news agency Tass. This delivery is at least the sixth Su-35S transfer to Russian units reported since the start of the year and reflects a clearly accelerated production rhythm aimed at reinforcing frontline airpower. This tempo, noticeably higher than the one publicly reported in 2024, has immediate consequences for force readiness, procurement timelines and regional airpower balances, making the development relevant for military planners, intelligence communities and policymakers following Russia’s wartime industrial output.
The Su-35S is Russia’s advanced multirole fighter jet featuring supermaneuverability, long-range sensors, and powerful air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities (Picture Source: Russian MoD/Rostec)
The Su-35S is a deeply modernized evolution of the Su-27 family, optimized for air superiority while retaining significant capabilities for strike missions and maritime target engagement. Powered by twin engines with thrust-vectoring nozzles, featuring long combat radius and high maneuverability across the envelope, the aircraft combines a high-performance radar and sensor suite with the ability to employ long-range air-to-air missiles and precision-guided surface-attack weapons. Rostec’s statement emphasized the aircraft’s capacity to operate day and night, in adverse weather and at extended ranges from home bases. Russian pilots and officials have repeatedly described the type as a reliable and versatile platform suited to the wide mission set currently required of operational-tactical aviation, from air defense of key regions to combat sorties in expeditionary theaters.
The Su-35S program followed a pragmatic path that reused a proven airframe while integrating updated avionics, improved propulsion, and modernized weapons, reducing time to serial production and limiting costs compared with designing a new platform from scratch. In operational service, the aircraft has been employed in homeland air defense, long-range patrols, deterrent shows of force and combat support roles, including air-to-air engagements and missions against enemy air defenses. The current rise in output points to an industrial shift from a steady, moderate production rate to a sustained higher one, enabling faster squadron formation, replenishment of aircraft lost or worn in operations, and a larger pool of mission-ready fighters available to commanders.
Compared with earlier Su-27/Su-30 derivatives, the Su-35S offers significantly improved sensor range, more capable onboard electronics and a broader weapons integration portfolio, which together increase situational awareness and engagement flexibility. In comparison with fifth-generation aircraft, it deliberately accepts higher observability in exchange for immediate availability, larger payload capacity and lower unit cost, positioning the Su-35S as a practical solution for generating massed combat aviation. When set against contemporary Western fourth-generation fighters such as the F-15 or Rafale, the Su-35S remains competitive in thrust-to-weight ratio, range and maneuverability, while differences persist in areas such as sensor fusion, data-centric sustainment, networked operations and interoperability with allied air forces. Its key operational advantage lies in the combination of high sortie generation, integration of long-range weapons and the existence of a mature domestic industrial base capable of scaling deliveries on short notice.
The strategic implications of six publicly reported deliveries in a single year are non-trivial. At the regional level, a faster-growing fleet of high-performance fighters improves Russia’s ability to impose air denial, protect critical infrastructure and project power into contested or NATO-proximate airspaces, complicating air defense planning in neighboring states. At the broader geostrategic level, building up a large non-stealth but powerful fighter inventory supports a layered deterrence posture: it raises the number of credible interceptors and long-range strike platforms available for both defensive counter-air and offensive strike taskings. From a force-generation standpoint, concentrated deliveries shorten the time needed to field complete units, facilitate rotational deployments, and mitigate the operational effects of attrition, enabling Russian planners to maintain more resilient and dispersed air groupings. Overall, the pattern of deliveries signals a choice to prioritize numbers alongside capability, a choice that will influence operational doctrine and regional airpower calculations.
Financial and contracting specifics in the latest disclosure remain deliberately general. Rostec and UAC framed the handover as part of the ongoing state defense order without indicating the exact number of aircraft delivered in the batch or the specific recipient regiments. UAC leadership has, however, repeatedly underlined the goal of meeting elevated production targets for operational-tactical and transport aviation in 2025, which suggests high state prioritization of combat aircraft output. Although the Su-35 family has been the subject of export interest and previous foreign contracts, current official reporting is focused on domestic deliveries to the Russian Aerospace Forces, with no new export transactions announced in connection with this latest batch.
The renewed, high-frequency deliveries of Su-35S fighters over the past year therefore represent more than an industrial milestone; they amount to an operational shift that materially increases the number of modern, mission-capable aircraft available to Russian air commanders. This increase will shape squadron basing and deployment options, accelerate replacement of aircraft lost in ongoing operations, and feed into deterrence calculations in Europe, the Arctic and adjacent theaters. For defense ministries, intelligence services and allied air forces, the Su-35S production surge will remain a key indicator of Russia’s ability to regenerate and sustain tactical aviation despite sanctions and wartime expenditure and will continue to be monitored accordingly.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.
