- Seven Su-35S delivery batches in a single year underscore a strategic inflection in Russia’s aerospace capabilities, bolstering VKS airpower, demonstrating industrial resilience, and reinforcing operational readiness despite persistent Western sanctions and supply chain pressures
Moscow’s completion of seven delivery batches of Su-35S multirole fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) just days before the close of 2025 represents a decisive statement of industrial endurance, operational intent, and strategic recalibration at a time when Western policymakers continue to frame Russia’s defence-industrial base as structurally degraded under sanctions.
Executed at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aviation Plant (KNAAZ) named after Y.A. Gagarin, the handover completes what United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) executives have described as a “record-breaking year” for Russian combat aviation manufacturing. The claim gains tangible weight when measured through delivery cadence, platform survivability, and battlefield relevance rather than political narrative.
Blending industrial confidence with operational urgency, UAC Chief Executive Vadim Badekha emphasised the production tempo: “2025 has been a year of intensive work for UAC enterprises fulfilling the government defense order.” This declaration implicitly acknowledges both the pressures imposed by sustained high-intensity warfare and the state’s success in reorganising production chains under extreme conditions.
Frontline operational feedback further reinforced this industrial message. A VKS pilot noted, “The Su-35S is very comfortable, ergonomic, and highly reliable. It has performed well during the special military operation.” The statement bridges factory output and combat employment while signalling institutional confidence in the platform’s frontline credibility.
The culmination of seven delivery batches in a single calendar year, an unprecedented tempo in post-Soviet Russian aviation history, now positions the Su-35S at the core of Russia’s tactical airpower regeneration strategy. Once a transitional fourth-generation++ fighter, it has become the backbone of a wartime air force operating at industrial scale.
Timing and sequencing of the final delivery underline a deliberate Russian strategy to synchronise industrial output with operational absorption, ensuring that newly manufactured airframes transition rapidly from factory acceptance to combat-ready squadrons rather than accumulating as peacetime inventory.
Viewed through a strategic-industrial lens, the seven-batch delivery rhythm signals that Russia has shifted from surge recovery to sustained wartime production equilibrium. Aerospace manufacturing is no longer episodic but institutionalised as a continuous element of national power projection.
The Su-35S’s elevation from a bridging platform to a force-structuring asset reflects Moscow’s pragmatic recognition that fourth-generation++ fighters, when produced at scale and iteratively upgraded through combat feedback loops, can deliver decisive operational value even in an era dominated by fifth-generation narratives. By prioritising sortie density, attrition resilience, and immediate battlefield impact over technological prestige, Russia effectively leverages existing capabilities while bypassing the high costs and slow pace of next-generation programs.
The delivery of the seventh batch around December 24 capped a meticulously sequenced production rhythm that began on March 29 and proceeded without interruption despite sustained missile strikes, labour mobilisation challenges, component bottlenecks, and unprecedented sanctions pressure on Russia’s aerospace ecosystem.
The first batch, delivered in late March, reopened a high-tempo production pipeline at KNAAZ, a facility historically associated with Su-27 lineage manufacturing. The second batch, delivered on May 12, demonstrated UAC’s success in stabilising supply chains and labour flows, with incremental deliveries designed to maintain operational security amid active conflict. By June 25, the third batch had entered service, confirming a pattern of two to three aircraft per delivery cycle, a segmentation strategy that minimises logistical strain while enabling near-continuous frontline absorption.
The fourth batch, transferred on August 21, prompted Rostec Executive Director Oleg Yevtushenko to emphasise that production was institutionalised, not episodic: “Several Su-35S batches have already been delivered in 2025, and the process continues – new aircraft are currently in production for subsequent deliveries.” The fifth batch, arriving on September 24 after comprehensive testing, marked a critical validation phase, demonstrating that quality assurance remained intact despite accelerated production.
The sixth batch, announced publicly on November 1 but completed in late October, expanded the annual total to an estimated 15 to 18 aircraft, representing a nearly 50 percent increase over 2024 output and establishing 2025 as the most productive year for Russian tactical fighter manufacturing since the Soviet Union’s dissolution. The final December delivery, part of an MoD contract extending production commitments toward 2030, brings the operational Su-35S fleet to approximately 155 aircraft, ensuring numerical resilience despite combat losses.
Measured against NATO’s industrial output, Russia’s production tempo is striking. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte acknowledged that Russia’s three-month output in certain categories now rivals or exceeds NATO’s annual production, a comparison with profound implications for long-term force sustainability.
At the centre of this surge stands the Su-35S itself, a platform designed to extract maximum combat utility from fourth-generation architecture while integrating selective fifth-generation attributes without the cost and complexity penalties of stealth-centric designs. Powered by twin AL-41F1S thrust-vectoring turbofan engines, it achieves Mach 2.25, a combat radius exceeding 1,500 kilometres, and a service ceiling of around 20,000 metres, enabling long-endurance patrols, deep-strike escort missions, and persistent air-denial operations.
The Irbis-E PESA radar, capable of detecting large aerial targets at ranges approaching 400 kilometres, provides high-power detection and tracking, particularly effective in contested electromagnetic environments. An integrated electronic warfare suite disrupts adversary sensors and missile seekers, while 12 external hardpoints supporting up to 8,000 kilograms of ordnance allow multirole employment, including advanced air-to-air missiles, precision munitions, and stand-off glide bombs equipped with Universal Planning and Correction Modules (UMPK).
Operational experience in Ukraine has accelerated integration of UMPK glide bombs, enabling stand-off strikes from 60 to 90 kilometres, reducing exposure to medium-range air-defence systems while maintaining pressure on frontline logistics. Compared with Western peers such as the F-15E Strike Eagle or Rafale F3R, the Su-35S emphasises kinematic performance, range, and payload over network-centric sophistication, reflecting Russia’s focus on attritional endurance.
Rostec claims that the Su-35S has “destroyed the largest number of targets during the special military operation,” aligning with the aircraft’s deployment in air-defence suppression, escort, and strike coordination. Its operational versatility ensures that the aircraft remains relevant across theatres from Ukraine to Eurasia, reinforcing deterrence within the Collective Security Treaty Organization framework and complicating NATO air-defence planning in contested zones.
Despite sanctions, Russia has adapted. UAC’s expansion of production lines, workforce retention, and substitution of foreign components demonstrate a state-directed industrial mobilisation prioritising defence output over civilian economic optimisation. Parallel surges in other platforms, including the Su-34 Fullback, have doubled pre-conflict output, underwritten by a 2025 defence budget of approximately USD 138 billion (roughly RM651 billion).
The operational immediacy of new aircraft deliveries transforms factories into integral components of the battlespace, challenging Western narratives that Russia’s production is unsustainable. For Asia and beyond, the Su-35S production surge highlights Moscow’s enduring industrial resilience and its ability to sustain a high-intensity conflict while reshaping assumptions about sanctions efficacy.
Completion of the seventh Su-35S batch before the end of 2025 marks not just the end of a production cycle but the crystallisation of a wartime aerospace doctrine centred on endurance, adaptability, and industrial depth. From the first March handover to the December finale, UAC’s execution demonstrates that Russia’s defence-industrial complex remains capable of scaling output under extreme pressure while preserving platform effectiveness.
Vadim Badekha’s assertion that “The Su-35S is one of the most sought-after aircraft in the troops” reflects a rare convergence of industrial confidence and operational demand. As Moscow looks toward 2026, the trajectory established in 2025 suggests that Russian airpower will remain a decisive factor in Eurasian security, redefining expectations about industrial resilience in modern warfare.
