First and foremost, this is not the first time Washington has made such allegations. Earlier this year, it was reported that other Su-27 aircraft had engaged in "unsafe and unprofessional" attempts to intercept US surveillance planes.
He quoted US Air Force Intelligence and the Lockheed Martin Company as saying that for each destroyed Su-27 there would be three F-35s obliterated.
In a separate report published by an authoritative UK-based analytical center, Flight International, the authors said that Russia's Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30 warplanes are among the world's most commonly sold fighting aircraft.
According to the report, there are 943 fighter jets from the Su-27 and Su-30 families, accounting for six percent of the total number of combat aircraft in the world.
It is a twin-engine fourth generation front-line aircraft with a blended wing and fuselage, and twin tail fins. During airshows, the Su-27 has repeatedly demonstrated exceptional controllability and maneuverability at high angles of attack.
The aircraft is equipped to operate autonomously in combat over hostile territory, in escorting deep-penetration strike aircraft and in the suppression of enemy airfields. The aircraft provides general air defense in cooperation with ground and airborne control stations, according to the website fighter-planes.com.
