BEIJING/MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax-AVN) - A representational Russian military delegation comprising members of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (MTC), Rosoboronexport arms trader and the Sukhoi corporation discussed deliveries of the new Russian Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighters to China at talks in Beijing.
'The talks resulted in signing a joint document actually giving a green light to the advancement of Su-35 on the Chinese market," a military-diplomatic source told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
The source said that China had shown interest in the new Russian Su-35 fighter for a long time but the sides could not agree on the volume of the planned purchase. "China expressed intentions to buy a small batch of four-six fighters at the first stage while the Russian side strongly objected to such an approach," the source said.
He said a minimal batch for delivery should consist of about 40 fighters, otherwise the contract would be disadvantageous for Russia because purchases of singular units create serious risks for technology leaks. There is a great probability that the fighter will be simply copied as happened before and no further purchases will follow.
"During the talks, the Russian side clearly defined its terms and the volumes of possible deliveries of Su-35 fighters to China," the agency's interlocutor said.
He said that the sides agreed to get down to the details of a possible future contract in the near future.
Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi corporation refused to comment on the details of the talks on the delivery of Su-35 to China, but noted that the prospects of promoting the aircraft on the Chinese market are quite good.