On 25 November 1991, the test pilot N.P. Nesnov performed the first flight of the multipurpose Su-27SK aircraft. The Su-27SK single-seat front-line fighter is an export version of the Su-27 aircraft, produced in quantity since 1991 at KnAAPO (today – a branch of JSC “Sukhoi Company” “Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant named after Y.A. Gagarin”).
The aircraft is designed to gain air supremacy by destroying manned and unmanned aerial vehicles with medium-range guided missiles and at a short-range air combat, destruction of surface and ground targets with unguided weapons, while conducting autonomous and group actions in any weather conditions.
Since 1992 the aircraft have been exported to China, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Indonesia. In accordance with an interstate agreement, since 1998 the aircraft has been produced as the F/J-11 in China under licence in accordance with an interstate agreement. The first licensed-production plane, assembled in Shenyang, was flight tested on 16 December 1998.
