MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow and Beijing expect to seal the deal on the sale of Russian Su-35 fighter jets to China in 2014, a senior official at the Russian arms exports monopoly said Saturday.
“Talks are ongoing, but the deal is unlikely to be sealed before the year’s end. The signing will most likely take place next year,” said Viktor Komardin, deputy head of the state-run Rosoboronexport.
“Chinese negotiators are discussing the technical outlook of the plane,” Komardin told RIA Novosti.
He did not say how many multirole fighter jets China wants to buy, but added that Beijing is also interested in purchasing ordnance for them.
“There will definitely be integral weapons, but we’ll be discussing external weapons,” Komardin said.
“They want new types of weapons that we have, including from the [Moscow Region-based] Tactical Missiles Corporation. But that’ll be a separate deal,” he said.
Negotiations about China’s purchase of the Russian Su-35 – a deep modernization of the Su-27M, the current staple of the Russian Air Force – were opened in 2010, but frozen last year.
However, Rosoboronexport head Anatoly Isaikin told a group of Chinese pilots during the MAKS airshow in Russia last week that they will “soon” have the opportunity to fly the Su-35.
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