The Su-35S is a heavily reworked, 4++ generation derivative of the Soviet-era Su-27 “Flanker.” The name “Su-35” first appeared on 1980s–90s demonstrators — the canard-equipped Su-27M/Su-35 and the thrust-vectoring Su-37 — but the modern jet is a near clean-sheet modernisation internally called the Su-35BM (bolshaya modernizatsiya, “big modernisation”), unveiled at MAKS in August 2007. Crucially, the production Su-35S has no canards: its agility comes from a reinforced airframe, relaxed stability and thrust vectoring instead.
Its signature is raw manoeuvrability. Paired AL-41F1S turbofans with 3D thrust-vectoring nozzles let it point its nose almost anywhere in the sky, sustaining post-stall airshow routines — Pugachev’s Cobra, the flat “pancake” spin, the Kulbit somersault — that look like gravity has been switched off. Beyond the theatrics it pairs that agility with a huge internal fuel load, long combat range and a heavy 12-hardpoint payload, plus the powerful long-range N035 Irbis-E radar.
Russia positions the Su-35 as its workhorse air-superiority fighter — a “4++ gen” answer to Western fifth-generation jets built on brute performance rather than low observability. It has flown combat over Syria (from 2016) и Ukraine (from 2022), where it remains Russia’s premier air-superiority Flanker despite documented combat losses. The first Su-35BM prototype flew on 18 February 2008; the serial Su-35S reached operational service in 2014.
Not stealthy — the point-defence heavyweight Russia leans on when it cannot field a fifth-generation jet in numbers.Brute force over stealth — the Su-35’s design bet
