MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia's SU-35 Flanker multifunctional fighter has "very high" chances to win a Brazilian contract, Director General of the Sukhoi military aircraft corporation Mikhail Pogosyan said on Tuesday.
"We will compete actively for the Brazilian contract, and we estimate the chances of our SU-35 multifunctional fighter as very high," Pogosyan told a news conference at the Interfax main office.
"Sukhoi's competitors that are involved in the Brazilian tender also have serious positions," the director general said.
Apart from the SU-35 the Brazilian tender involves the Mirage 2002 of France, F-16 of the United States, Grippen of Sweden and MIG-29 Fulcrum, also of Russia.
Russia has offered Brazil comprehensive supplies of the SU- 35 plane with all needed equipment as well as a corresponding offset program. The plane submitted for the tender is designed in accordance with the Brazilian Air Force's requirements.
Brazilian Defense Minister Geraldo Magela da Cruz Quintao studied capabilities of the SU-35 while making an official visit to Russia in April 2002. Quintao visited the Zhukovsky airfield in the Moscow region where the SU-35 fighter was demonstrated to him in the air and on the land.
The flight was made in the framework of expert estimation of the SU-35 fighter by Brazilian specialists. Two Brazilian pilots and two technicians arrived in Russia for that purpose. They performed a series of flights studying piloting and combat specifications of the plane.
The Brazilian aviators Quintao after the flight that the SU- 35 was an excellent plane. They praised reliable navigation of the aircraft in all flight modes, its high maneuverability and high power-to-weight ratio.
The SU-35 is mass-produced by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aircraft production association.
According to unofficial data, Brazil is planning to purchase 24 multifunctional fighters, and USD750m is allocated for that purpose.
Asked by Interfax-Military News Agency to evaluate the capacity of the global market for Sukhoi planes, Pogosyan said that "at least 160 warplanes are planned to be exported in the next seven or eight years."
"In addition, export will grow as a result of active promotion of our proposals concerning comprehensive upgrade of fourth-generation Sukhoi planes, and as a result of introducing fifth-generation planes to the market. These planes are under construction at the moment," Pogosyan concluded.