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Russia has signed a contract to export Sukhoi Su-35 4.5-generation air superiority fighter jets to Ethiopia, Ukrainian media reported on October 6, citing leaked documents allegedly from Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec.
The leaked documents, originally published online on October 3 by the hacker collective Black Mirror, which is supportive of the Kiev regime, outline detailed pricing, delivery schedules, and export plans for advanced Sukhoi fighter jets to several countries.
According to the leaked documents, Iran has ordered 48 Su-35 fighter jets, Algeria has purchased 12 Su-57 fifth-generation air superiority fighter jets in addition to 14 Su-34 fighter bombers, while Ethiopia has signed a contract for at least six Su-35s.
The Su-35 was designed to engage all types of aerial targets in long and close ranged air battles as well as to attack ground and sea-surface targets.
One of the main features of the fighter jet is the Irbis-E multi-mode, hybrid passive electronically scanned array radar system. The radar can detect and track up to 30 aerial targets at one time at ranges of up to 350 kilometers, and attack up to eight of them.
In addition, the fighter can carry a variety of advanced long-range weapons, including the R-37 air-to-air missile, the Kh-59 land-attack cruise missile, the Kh-58 anti-radiation missile and the Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missile.
Click to see full-size image.
The Ethiopian Air Force already operates some Su-27 fighter jets, in addition to two Su-30K fighter jets which were delivered by Russia just last year.
While a contract to export Su-35 fighter jets to Ethiopia is possible, the authenticity of the documents cited by Ukrainian media is highly questionable.
For once, the number of fighter jets set to be exported to Iran mentioned in the documents is double that mentioned in all previous reports. More importantly, the documents mention nothing about the export of Su-35s to Algeria, although fighter jets of this type have been already delivered to the country, according to reports from earlier this year.
The alleged leak comes at a very interesting time. Tensions between Israel and Iran are once again mounting, with claims of Russia helping rearm the Islamic Republic. At the time, tensions were also building up between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The construction of the dam on the Blue Nile River, which began in 2011, sparked a crisis between Ethiopia and Egypt. Cairo views the dam a threat to its water security. However, Addis Ababa insists that the dam is necessary for its energy needs and claims that it won’t harm downstream nations.
In 2015, the two countries announced a Declaration of Principles. However, efforts to resolve the crisis have stalled since then.
The crisis escalated again very recently, specifically on September 9 when Ethiopia officially opened the dam. Egypt responded by submitting a letter to the United Nations Security Council warning against Addis Ababa’s unilateral operation of the dam, describing the move as a “breach” of international law.
On October 3, Egypt again accused Ethiopia of acting “recklessly and irresponsibly” in managing the Nile flood through unilateral dam operations, saying that Addis Ababa’s recent moves exacerbated flooding in Sudan and posed a direct threat to Egyptian land and lives.
The alleged Rostec leak and related Ukrainian media reports may be an attempt to spark tensions between Israel and Russia, and more importantly between Egypt and Russia. These claims came just days before a major Russian-Arab summit in Moscow that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was invited to.
The military cooperation between Russia and Ethiopia is no secret, and it never affected relations between Moscow and Cairo. In fact, the GERD has been protected by Russian-made Pantsir-S short-range air defense systems for years.
While Egypt may be developing military plans to deal with the GERD, it will not likely take action as attacking the dam could trigger a catastrophic flooding downstream whose effect could reach Sudan then Egyptian land. The most likely scenario is the two countries reaching an agreement.
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ukraine should worry less about what russia is upto in africa and more what is going on at home. a bit like france. problems aplenty at home without meddling in others affairs, a bit like britain, a bit like germany. . i think i see a pattern following.
this is a cia/mossad mafia report posing as “issued by ukraine” for cover . the cia has conducted decades of operations in ukraine. this includes drugs, medical laboratories, and money laundering banking.
egypt is #2 in us congressional funding behind israel. this report from the “hacker collective black mirror” accuses 60 additional russian planes in the region. but, the us mic will always use a report like this to loot the american treasury. this report will go straight to congressional members to create and/or exploit any funding opportunity. no wonder the price of gold is rising !
“the alleged rostec leak and related ukrainian media reports may be an attempt to spark tensions between israel and russia, and more importantly between egypt and russia.”
more importantly, pravda is reporting on the expansion of the russia-iran defense agreement which is now also including iraq. i believe that israel would be more concerned about this than ethiopia-egypt.
“ russia to build air defense shield over iran and iraq against israel
iran has accepted russia’s proposal to develop a regional air defense system and has officially invited iraq to join, in an effort to strengthen their ability to repel potential israeli air attacks. according to regional media, this move comes in response to intelligence assessments that israel is preparing for a multipronged strike not only against tehran but also against iran’s allies in yemen and iraq.”
which means more s-400 which would be a huge move in favour of a multipolar reality. and it means putin is not concerned with balancing relations with iran and israel anymore.
‘ukraine says’ so it must be true. just like the ghost of kiev.
why are we not allowed to ‘upvote’ these comments?
the censorship queens of sf are having a hissy fit
sort of informative, but i’m more interested in the recent irgc interest in china’s j series aircraft. one article on this and any updates, if any, have been ignored or shelved.
would like to see them in the mix confirmed.