Documents leaked last Friday allegedly reveal a massive deal for advanced fighter jets between Russia and Iran, with the sale of 48 Sukhoi-35 aircraft to Tehran at its core. The planned sale of the aircraft has been known for some time, though various and often conflicting reports about the delivery schedule have surfaced periodically. As of now, the jets have not yet been delivered.
The Russian opposition website The Insider was the first to report on the leak on Thursday, after "Black Mirror" released the first batch of documents. The following day, screenshots of an internal pricing table detailing aircraft sales appeared online.
According to the hackers' publication, the leak includes more than 300 documents from the Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec, outlining pricing structures and arms deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as mechanisms for bypassing Western sanctions.
The military intelligence website Army Recognition analyzed the pricing table in an effort to decode the client codes listed in it. Code 364, identified as Iran, describes a deal for 48 Sukhoi-35 jets equipped with avionics and electronic warfare systems, valued at roughly €589 million ($635 million), with expected delivery by 2028 and a 15% advance payment.
Code 012, identified as Algeria, includes two separate contracts: electronic warfare equipment for Sukhoi-34 aircraft worth $176 million, scheduled for completion by 2026, and full avionics kits for fifth-generation Sukhoi-57 fighters valued at $239 million.
The website cross-referenced the quantities and timelines with previous data on Russian arms sales and concluded that Iran and Algeria were the most likely clients, though it emphasized that the information has yet to be officially confirmed.
It is important to note that the authenticity of the latest leak remains uncertain, and may reflect outdated information, as does the date on which the referenced pricing table was prepared.
In March 2023, Iran officially confirmed for the first time that it had reached an agreement with Russia to purchase Sukhoi-35 fighter jets. "The Sukhoi-35 aircraft are technically suitable for the Iranian Air Force, and therefore Iran has finalized a contract for their purchase," the Iranian delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York said at the time.
A month earlier, Iran unveiled a new underground air force base designed to accommodate advanced fighter jets. The deal was seen as part of a broader exchange following Iran's supply of hundreds of Shahed-136 attack drones to Moscow for use in the war in Ukraine.
The Sukhoi-35 is a fourth-generation advanced fighter aircraft, similar in class to Israel's F-16I jets, intended to modernize Iran's aging air force, which relies primarily on older F-14, F-4 and MiG-29 aircraft. Another potential addition occasionally mentioned as an upgrade option for Iran's air fleet is China's J-10 fighter.
Meanwhile, the sale of 12 Sukhoi-57 jets to Algeria would make it the first African country to operate fifth-generation aircraft. Russia and Algeria maintain close diplomatic and military relations, and Algeria, locked in longstanding rivalry with Morocco, seeks to strengthen its air superiority in the region.
