An initial sale agreement to purchase 24 advanced Su-35 fighter jets between the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Russia demonstrated that China is dealing with technological challenges in developing its very own J-20, according to military analysts as reported by the South China Morning Post.

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"We decided to buy the Su-35 because it's a fact that our home-made engines have failed to measure up to the Russian products," a PLA senior colonel who requested to remain anonymous said.

He said that perfecting the engines is the greatest hurdle of all, and China is still catching up. "The purchase of the Su-35s might help our J-20 project, but there are too many deeper problems hiding in our military industrial system that are hindering our research and development."

Meanwhile, Andrei Chang, editor-in-chief of the Kanwa Defence Review, revealed that China likely wants the Su-35 deal to get hold of 117S engines, Russia's most advanced engine for a single-seat, twin-engined fighter jet so far.

Nevertheless, both local and foreign military experts forecast that China's J-20 stealth fighter jets will not enter service until 2018, despite being debuted early this year at the Airshow China 2016.

Russia, which initially expected a 48-unit deal with China, declined the mainland's interest to order only four units of Su-35 because of replicating concerns. It can be recalled that China made several copied versions of Russia's Su-27 called the Jian-11; however, Beijing insisted the aircrafts only stroke some resemblances as they were all indigenous designs.  

Although Russia and China have already inked a memorandum this year, Chang noted that both sides are still to determine if they need to discuss and detail their deal more, including specifics like prices, the models to be exported, the kinds of weapons included, to name a few.

TagsRussia, china, Su-35 fighter jets, Su-35 Fighter Jets China, J-20 stealth fighter jet