And this is what I mean; JDW 10/30/2003:
“There are two Su-27SM demonstrator aircraft in Russia, yet on several occasions Sukhoi has referred to these as Su-27SKs – a designation previously associated only with those aircraft delivered to the PLAAF since 1992. By 1996, 36 KnAAPO-built Su-27SK fighters and 14 Su-27UBK trainers (from IAPO’s line) had been acquired. The same year, Russia and China signed a deal that will see as many as 200 Su-27s built by Shenyang under the local designation J-11. It is believed that more than 100 J-11s have been delivered so far.
There have been consistent reports that China was developing a multirole upgrade for its Su-27s, which would allow them to better complement its more advanced Su-30MKK force. Until now, the scope of that upgrade programme had not been revealed. However, speaking to JDW at September’s Aviation Expo/China 2003 show in Beijing, a Technocomplex spokesman described the Chinese Su-27 upgrade market as “huge”, and said that his company had delivered “about 100 upgrade packages over the last two years”. The Chinese upgrade draws on the same components as Russia’s Su-27SM programme, apart from its use of just two MFDs in the cockpit, as in the Su-30MKK. Technocomplex is upgrading both single-seat and two-seat Su-27s for the PLAAF. “
I posted it then, but since there are so many details in this report, I’m tending to believe that Pinkov is wrong in this matter. Furthermore, the JDW report references Technocomplex spokesmen, who would be well aware of such deals.
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