At the end of 2018, Egypt ordered more than two dozen Su-35 fighters at the NATO code known as Flanker-E, for about $ 2 billion at NATO code, for about $ 2 billion at NATO code, for about $ 2 billion at the NATO code of NATO, for about $ 2 billion at the NATO code of NATO, for about $ 2 billion, which was seen as a great victory of Russia in the region of North and Middle East at the Russian Gagarin Aircraft factory.
However, already on the day of signing the contract came across serious problems. The United States exerted pressure on related countries so that they would not buy weapons produced in Russia. US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that if Egypt realizes the planned purchase of a Russian Su-35 fighter, the US will impose sanctions on Cairo. Similar pressure led Indonesia to withdrawing from the purchase of SU-35 in 2018 and Egypt also had to consider whether he pays to marry accounts with an ally, who supported him every year with a billion dollars.
Egypt began to hesitate, and Russia did not suspend the production of these aircraft. In June 2021, 17 Su-35 was ready to send.
In response, the US offered Egypt to buy their F-15 Eagle, which they did not want to decide for years. Egypt broke the contract, and Russia tried to sell planes to Iran. However, due to the powerful losses inflicted on Russian aviation by Ukraine, Tehran, who has already sent his pilots to Russia to training, which he still cannot pick them up, which largely weakened his military abilities during a recent attack by Israel and the United States.
Fighters for Egypt: Rafale and J-10C
Egypt, however, after canceling the contract, became interested in the offers of France and China. The first one had already provided him with Rafale aircraft equipped with advanced systems that significantly exceed the Su-35. China, on the other hand, proposed their multi-purpose J-10C fighter. He gained significantly on reputation after reports of the success of pacistian pilots piloting them in a clash with Indian Rafale in May 2025.
SU-35 is a two-engine fighter designed to compete with Western aircraft such as F-15 and Rafale. It is powered by two Saturn engines al. Has IRBIS-E radar, capable of detecting goals up to 400 km. The aircraft can carry, among others, air-to-77 air bullets and KH-31 anti-ship missiles.
Egypt verified these advantages in the tests and decided that Su-35 has huge deficiencies in the basic areas necessary for modern air fight, Which can significantly affect the potential buyers of these machines.
