Russia Deploys Su-35S Jets from the Russian Knights Aerobatic Team for Combat Missions

Norwegian F-35 fighter jets intercepted a formation of Tu-95 strategic bombers over the Barents Sea. Su-35S fighter jets from the Russian Knights aerobatic team escorted the bombers.

The Norwegian Armed Forces shared photos of the interception on their official X account.

According to the military, the Russian aircraft were flying in international airspace and did not breach Norway’s sovereign airspace. Such interceptions and monitoring flights are routine measures to maintain situational awareness near NATO’s borders.

According to the report, during a routine NATO air policing mission, F-35s intercepted two Tu-95 strategic bombers and two Su-35S fighter jets. A notable detail of this interception is that at least one of the Su-35s belonged to the Russian Knights aerobatic team.

These aircraft are typically used for demonstration flights at ceremonial and international events. However, on this occasion, the jet was in a combat configuration and equipped with air-to-air missiles.

Russian propagandist Ilya Tumanov, author of the aviation channel Fighterbomber, confirmed that pilots from the Russian Knights team have long been involved in combat missions, but do so using “regular” Su-35S aircraft rather than the aerobatic team’s jets.

“How should we view this? We should view it normally. These days, all available weapons and personnel must be used as efficiently as possible, so that the workload is distributed evenly across both equipment and people,” he said.

This may indicate that, despite ongoing production and relatively limited losses in the war against Ukraine, Russia is facing a shortage of Su-35S aircraft and is therefore forced to deploy even its “ceremonial” jets for combat missions.

It is likely that due to the extremely high operational tempo of Su-35S use in combat, the aircraft are gradually exhausting their service life and are being written off or sent for long-term repairs.

Supporting this assumption is the fact that, throughout 2025, satellites recorded the arrival of between four and eight Su-35s at an aircraft boneyard located in the storage area of the Lipetsk air base.

The Russian Knights team was established in 1991. At that time, it was equipped with single-seat Su-27P and two-seat Su-27UB aircraft. In 2016, the aerobatic team received Su-30SM fighter jets, and starting in 2019, Su-35S fighters.

In May 2025, as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike on the Kushchyovskaya air base in Russia’s Krasnodar region, one of the Su-35S aircraft belonging to the aerobatic team was destroyed. A Su-34 frontline bomber and a Su-30 fighter were also damaged in the attack.