The Sukhoi Su-37 (NATO reporting name ‘Flanker-D’) is a naval military aircraft produced by Russian firm Sukhoi in 1982 for aircraft carriers. It is a derivative of the Su-27 ‘Flanker’ and was initially known as the Su-27K. The main difference from the Su-27 is that Su-37s can operate from aircraft carriers. Unlike the Su-27, the Su-37 is capable of aerial refueling. Unlike comparable American carrier-borne fighters like the F-14 Tomcat, the Su-37 is designed to use a ski-jump instead of catapult for carrier takeoff. The ski jump provides many advantages over a catapult launch. The most evident is that a ski jump does not put stress on the airframe and pilot, allowing lower weight because less structural reinforcement is required and prevents G-LOC (G-induced loss of consciousness.) Also, with a ski jump launch, the aircraft can engage full afterburner earlier than a catapult launch, because the aircraft is restrained by pop-up detents rather than a catapult shoe. The Kommersant reported on Oct. 23, 2006[1] that the state-run company Rosoboronexport is finishing negotiations with the People’s Republic of China to ship up to 50 aircraft totalling US$2.5 billion dollars. China would initially aqcuire 2 aircraft worth US$100 million dollars for testing and then have further options to aqcuire an additional 12-48 aircraft. The fighters are intended to be used with the fledgling Chinese aircraft carrier program. At the sixth Zhuhai Airshow in fall 2006, the first deputy director of the Military Technological Cooperation Bureau of Russian Federation, lieutenant general Aleksander Denisov of the Russian Air Force confirmed at the news conference to the public that China had approached Russia for the possible purchase of Su-37, and negotiation was to start in 2007. The Xinhua News Agency subsequently published the information on its internet military website on the same day on November 1, 2006 and this is the only known official Chinese governmental acknowledgement on this matter, but neither the Russian general nor the Chinese reporters disclosed any information on whether the deal was direct purchase, license assembly or technology transfer, but simply stating that China had planned to “introduce Su-37″.
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