Egypt to become 1st Arab country to operate Russia’s latest generation of Su-35 jet

The Russia's news agency TASS on Saturday quoted a military source as saying that Russia had begun production of the latest generation of Su-35 jets for Egypt, under a signed contract with Cairo.

“At the Gagarin Komsomolsk-on-Amur plant, production of the Su-35 has begun, which is to be delivered to the Egyptian Air Force under a contract which concluded in 2018.” The agency said, citing the military source

“The timing of delivery of the first batch of aircraft to the Egyptian side and for a reason related to the special restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic has not been determined yet.”

Egypt will be one of the few countries in the world and the first Arab nation that will operate the Su-35 jet.

As a result of Russia intervention in Syrian war, especially since last year, the Russian Air Force has repeatedly used their Su-35 in the Mediterranean region, with reports of the jet intercepting U.S. military aircraft off the coast of Syria.

It was reported in March 2019 that Egypt would procure over a two dozen of these Sukhoi jets.