7. Sukhoi Su-27SM
In service: 2004
Speed: Mach 2.35
Arguably the most successful Soviet fighter design, Sukhoi Su-27 spun the design of several other highly successful fighters present on our list of fastest, most modern Russian fighter jets. Originally, Soviet Airforce wanted a fighter able to compete with the new F-15 Americans were designing in the late 1960 and early 1970s. It turned out that specifications were too costly for a single airframe, so the program was split into Light and Heavy fighter. Light fighter resulted in MiG-19 and Heavy in Su-27. The Chinese reverse-engineered some of the Su-27 bought from Russia in the 1990s into Shenyang J-10. The SM version (serial moderniziroval – serial modernized) incorporates many technologies demonstrated on advanced Su-30 and Su-35 models. Now, let’s see what else do we have on our list of fastest, most advanced Russian fighter jets.
