Key Points and Summary: The Su-35 is Russia’s advanced fourth-generation fighter, emphasizing supermaneuverability through thrust-vectoring engines. Unlike Western doctrine, which prioritizes energy management, precision, and long-range dominance, Russian philosophy favors agility and close-range combat in contested environments.
-Despite its capabilities, the Su-35 has suffered notable losses in Ukraine, highlighting the challenges of achieving air superiority against robust air defenses, including Western-supplied Patriot systems.
-The war in Ukraine underscores that modern air combat success requires not just advanced aircraft but integrated strategies to navigate heavily contested airspace. While the Su-35 epitomizes Russian design philosophy, it struggles against well-equipped and networked opponents.
Russia’s Su-35 Has a New Foe: Modern Air Defenses
Russia’s Su-35 is an advanced, multi-role fourth-generation fighter jet designed for air superiority and ground attack missions.
Equipped with thrust-vectoring engines, it is a highly agile aircraft capable of supermaneuverability matched by very few other aircraft.
It boasts an advanced sensor suite, avionics, and electronic warfare capability. Though not a stealth aircraft, the Su-35 is among the best that Russia has in service — and is emblematic of vastly different aircraft design philosophies compared to its Western counterparts.
Air Superiority and the Su-35
Western and Soviet-turned-Russian air combat doctrines differ significantly and reflect quite different operational needs and historical experiences, tempered by the technological possibilities each bloc can achieve and the resources each can leverage for their respective projects.
The most striking differences in the two approaches relate to energy management and supermaneuverability.
In the West, aircraft doctrine places a premium on retaining energy and maintaining airspeed and altitude during aerial combat.
With its origins in the energy-maneuverability theory developed by U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd, this strategy aims to outmaneuver opposing aircraft and the ability to disengage when required to set up a superior position.
Su-35. Image: Creative Commons.
This philosophy is reflected in Western aircraft designs. Take the F-22 Raptor, for example; the highly stealthy air superiority fighter leverages precision-guided weaponry and an advanced sensor suite to maintain dominance beyond the visual range.
This doctrine assumes that avoiding dogfights at close ranges can minimize risk. In summary, very high maneuverability, while important, is less critical than maintaining kinetic energy and leveraging better situational awareness.
On the other side of the philosophical spectrum, Russian doctrine places a premium on supermanuverability, or the ability to conduct extreme maneuvers at very low speeds and high angles of attack, emphasizing combat at much closer ranges than their Western counterparts and depends on pilot skill as well as the aircraft’s nimbleness to win — especially in contested environments where electronic warfare is unreliable.
Fighters like the Su-35 embody this philosophy completely. With thrust-vectoring engines and extreme maneuverability, the Su-35 would hope to outmaneuver Western opponents and potentially evade missile weaponry.
The Su-35 hopes to survive in unsure and unpredictable combat scenarios — especially in contested environments where Western opponents are unable to bring their electronic warfare capabilities to bear against Russian aircraft.
Su-35. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
In essence, Western doctrine focuses on maintaining energy and leveraging technology for precision and range. In contrast, Russian doctrine prioritizes agility and adaptability, with the Su-35 being the epitome of aircraft like the Su-35. These philosophies, though contrasting, reflect different approaches to achieving air superiority.
Su-35: Supermanuverable, but No Panacea
Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian Air Force has faced significant setbacks, including the loss of several Su-35 fighter jets.
Documentation by Oryx, an open-source tracking website, suggests the number of Su-35 losses could be higher than the seven they’ve documented, as they rely on visual confirmation to tally losses.
Still, the losses that the Su-35s have experienced are significant as the jets are one of Russia’s most advanced and most-touted fighter aircraft ever built.
Su-35 fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The Ukrainian Air Force’s power projection capabilities have been severely curtailed since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia’s Su-35 losses, therefore, are attributed to a robust air defense network, aided in large part by Western-supplied systems like Patriot missile batteries.
And they’ve proven their worth against Russian pilots, especially at lower altitudes. However, other systems like shoulder-fired and truck- or track-mounted mobile air defenses have also been useful to Ukrainian defenders.
Air Superiority and the Ukraine War
The Russian Air Force’s losses in Ukraine underscore how difficult it is to achieve air superiority against modern air defenses.
It is also a reflection of modern aerial warfare: success depends not only on the abilities of a single aircraft like the Su-35, nor even a group of aircraft but on the ability to operate in contested airspace against an opponent with a robust air defense capability.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
