Sukhoi Su-35 The initial success of this project led Sukhoi in December 2003 to proceed with a follow-up modernization programme. Known internally as T-10BM, the programme was aimed at a more thorough redesign of the airframe to narrow the qualitative gap between Russian aircraft and foreign so-called fourth-generation aircraft. The resultant design, also designated Su-35, would serve as an interim solution pending the introduction of the Sukhoi Su-57 fifth-generation fighter, many features of which the aircraft would incorporate. Additionally, the aircraft was to be a single-seat alternative to the two-seat design of the Su-30MK on the export market. In many respects, the
Sukhoi Su-27 by the Japan Ministry of Defense. Russia denied the incursion, saying the jets were making routine flights near the disputed Kuril Islands. In another encounter, on 23 April 2014 an Su-27 nearly collided with a United States Air Force Boeing RC-135U over the Sea of Okhotsk. Russia plans to replace the Su-27 and the Mikoyan MiG-29 eventually with the Sukhoi Su-57 stealth fifth-generation multi-role twin-engine fighter. A squadron of Su-27SM3s was deployed to Syria in November 2015 as part of the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War. Ethiopian Su-27s reportedly shot down two Eritrean MiG-29s and damaged another