Dubai. November 15th. INTERFAX - Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are not conducting contract negotiations on the purchase of Su-35 fighters, the head of Rosoboronexport, Alexander Mikheev, told Interfax.
"Rosoboronexport is consulting on these issues with partners from the Middle East region, but contract work on these specific samples is not currently underway," Mikheev said, answering the question whether the UAE retains interest in buying the Su-35 and jointly developing a fifth-generation light fighter.
Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec, announced the ongoing negotiations with the UAE for the supply of the Su-35 at the Dubai Airshow in 2015. Two years later, he said that the Emirates had documented their readiness to buy the Su-35 from Russia. "We have signed an agreement of intent to purchase Sukhoi and Su-35 fighters," Chemezov told reporters at the IDEX-2017 exhibition in Abu Dhabi.
In April 2017, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov stated that we are talking about a deal for several dozen aircraft.
At the Dubai Airshow-2019, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of the Russian Federation Dmitry Shugaev said that negotiations with the UAE on the supply of Su-35 aircraft are continuing.
After that, nothing was reported about the course of the negotiation process.
In February 2017, Chemezov announced that Russia and the OEA would jointly develop a light fighter of the 5th generation. The signing of an agreement with the UAE on the subject of a light front-line multifunctional aircraft (LFMS) of the fifth generation was also reported in the FSVTS of Russia.
The Russian Federation is counting on the revival of this project with the UAE, the head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Yuri Slyusar, said last Sunday.
"Since 2017, we have had a certain pause (in the implementation of the agreement), but now the international premiere of this aircraft (Checkmate) here in Dubai is the development of this project for a fifth-generation aircraft, in pursuance of this agreement with the UAE," Slyusar told reporters at Dubai Airshow-2021.
