Douglas Barrie & Joseph Dempsey
That Egypt’s orphaned Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker M fighter/ground-attack aircraft (FGA) would find a new home was likely and was expected to be with Iran. Instead, the first of these Flankers has been seen at Ain Beida/Oum el Bouaghi Air Base in Algeria. Widely touted as the first export customer for the Sukhoi Su-57 Felon, Algiers may also have become a customer for the Su-35.
The appearance of the Su-35 in Algeria, however, does not rule out Iran as a buyer, nor does it mean the Su-57 is no longer destined for the Algerian Air Force. There have also been reports of an initial Su-35 delivery of the aircraft to Iran, but unlike in Algeria, these have not been verified by open-source imagery.
All Su-35s are built at the Yuri Gagarin Komsomolsk-on-Amur production site, and the 24-plus aircraft originally intended for Egypt have sat on the hardstand for years following the 2018 order.
In 2019, the United States warned that the sale would invoke the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act and that should the deliveries proceed Egypt would face sanctions from Washington. Production of the aircraft nonetheless went ahead in 2019, and by 2021, at least 12 aircraft had been completed and were parked outside at the production site. The manufacture of the order appeared complete in 2022, but delivery did not begin.
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