Russia’s Su-35 multi-role fighter jet poses the main threat to Kiev’s military amid the current conflict, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command has said.
“They have Su-35. It’s one of the best aircraft,” Yury Ignat said in an interview with RBK-Ukraine on Friday when asked if Moscow had warplanes that are comparable to the US-designed F-16 jets that Kiev expects to receive from its Western backers.
“The main aircraft that poses a threat to us is the Su-35. This must be acknowledged,” he stated.
The fighter jet made by Russia’s Sukhoi company is “technological and has serious weaponry,” including the R-37 rocket, which boasts “an even larger range than the AIM-120 AMRAAM” American air-to-air missile, the spokesman explained.
The Russian jet’s “main advantage is its radar… an aiming and navigation system that can… accompany and fire at several air targets at once,” Ignat said.
The Su-35 also possesses protective means and electronic warfare equipment, among other things, but can still be shot down, he added.