3 May 2011 saw the first production-standard advanced Sukhoi Su-35S multirole fighter built under the contract awarded by the Russian Defence Ministry take off from KnAAPO’s airfield for its maiden flight. During the sortie, which lasted an hour and a half, various operating modes of the integrated control system and powerplant of the aircraft and its stability and controllability were tested. The engine, systems and avionics operated without fault. Honoured Test Pilot Sergey Bogdan was at the controls. He had taken the Su-35’s first flying prototype (No. 901) to the air on 19 February 2008 and the second prototype, Su-35-2 (No. 902), on 2 October the same year.

According to a Sukhoi spokesperson, the Su-35 preliminary trials have been complete. At this stage, testers have proven the stability, controllability, powerplant performance and basic characteristics of the avionics suite, set by the requirements specification. The tests had involved two prototypes of the export version of the plane before the first aircraft for the Russian customer has joined them. Now the new fighter has been furnished for the official trials. The results to be produced by their first stage’s results will yield a preliminary report on the fighter’s compliance with the customer’s basic requirements and feasibility of its full-rate production for subsequent fielding with combat units of the Russian Air Force.

The Su-35S-1’s acceptance tests at KnAAPO’s airfield, which included seven test sorties, had been completed with success by mid-May, after which the preparation of the aircraft for handover to the Defence Ministry for the official test programme began. The programme will be pursued mostly at the Defence Ministry’s State Flight Test Centre in Akhtubinsk where the plane was ferried in late May.

The Su-35’s key features setting it aside form other aircraft of the Su-27 family are a drastically innovative avionics suite, wrapped around a digital information management system, and the cutting-edge Tikhomirov-NIIP Irbis phased array radar featuring the unique aerial target acquisition range and enhanced multiple-target simultaneous tracking and engagement capability (it tracks 30 and engages eight aerial threats or four and two ground targets respectively). The fighter is powered by advanced, NPO Saturn 117S thrust vector control turbofan engines. The Su-35 will pack a wide range of up-to-date and future weapons in all classes.

The contract for the development and delivery of 48 Su-35S fighters to RusAF by 2015 was signed in August 2009. The production and delivery are supposed to continue afterwards.