Algeria-Russia Fighter Jets Deal: Algiers To Buy 12 Su-34 Aircraft In $7.5B Deal

The Algerian air force has ordered 12 Su-34 Sukhoi Russian fighter jets as it looks to upgrade from its antiquated Soviet-era Su-24s. While the value of the deal for the jets has not been announced, it is part of a larger $7.5 billion weapons deal with Russia signed in 2006 and ends nine years of negotiations between Algiers and Moscow, said Gen. Chkalov Sergei Smirnov, director of Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association, the government-owned company that manufactures the aircraft.

The Su-34 recently was used in the Russian bombing campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria, an opportunity for perspective buyers to see it fly in a true operational environment.

Korotchenko said several African countries "including Uganda and Nigeria, which [are] waging a war against Boko Haram, could buy the Su-34," Defense News reported late Wednesday. "Such top of the range fighter bomber aircraft could also strengthen Ethiopia's air force, which still operates a large fleet of aging Su-27 fighters."

To help pay for its $400 billion military technological advancement and growth program, the Russian government had been selling to countries it did business with before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1991 and to countries that could not afford the more expensive western defense products being sold by the U.S. and European countries. To that end, Moscow made big deals with India, China, Iran and countries in the Middle East last year.

While Africa is a market that traditionally has not generated big revenues, it is being seen as a future battleground for defense companies. The U.S. And Europe are less inclined to sell to unstable regimes where the government could turn on the civilian population, using the weapons it bought, whereas Russia has shown it is more than comfortable selling to any country.

The Su-34 also has attracted the interest of Iraq, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan while Kazakhstan already operates a squadron recently acquired from Russia.