First in Africa: Algeria buys 14 stealth Su-57s from Russia

Announced in December 2019, Algeria has finally signed a two billion dollar agreement with Russia to purchase 14 Su-57 stealth aircraft. Thus, the Algerian army is, therefore, the first in the world to be equipped with this aircraft.

Algeria has signed an agreement with Russia to purchase 14 Su-57 stealth fighters, making it the world’s first customer for this 5th generation flagship of combat aviation, reports the Russian information site Avia.pro.

“The Algerian Ministry of Defense, within the framework of negotiations with the Russian army, reached an agreement on the purchase of the last Russian Su-57 planes worth nearly two billion dollars”, affirms the media, indicating that “both parties have already signed the corresponding contract”.

In December 2019, the Algerian military information site Menadefense, which had reported this information for the first time, noted that the Algerian air force had concluded two other contracts to acquire 14 Su-34 long-range bombers and 14 Su-35 aircraft.

Two other option contracts for the purchase of Su-34 and Su-35 of 14 aircraft each had also been signed with the aim of replacing the aircraft that will be withdrawn from the Air Force fleet in the coming years, the same source said.

In the Mediterranean, Algeria is the third country to possess stealth aircraft

Akram Kharief, an expert in security and defense issues and editor-in-chief of the Menadefense website, said that Algeria’s acquisition of Su-57 “is a revolution on the western flank of the Mediterranean,” Sputnik reported.

“This is the first time that a fifth-generation stealth aircraft will be introduced in Africa,” he added, adding that “it is also unprecedented in the Mediterranean, because in this basin only Israel and Italy have stealth aircraft, in this case, the F-35”.

The expert also explained that “the strategic importance of the Su-34 lies in the fact that this aircraft is a long-range bomber capable of carrying out operations thousands of kilometers away, which extends the Algerian Air Force’s offensive capabilities.”

“The Su-34 is also an aircraft that is capable of defending itself and does not need to be accompanied,” he said, pointing out that “it has proved its worth in the war in Syria”.