Billion-Dollar Beasts: Exploring the Most Expensive Military Vehicles to Ever Hit the Battlefield

8. Flanker Su-27

Joined the Service in 1977 Producer: Sukhoi Price: * $41.2 million Sukhoi created the nimble twin-engine fighter jet, the Su-27, to rival American fourth-generation fighters like the F-15 Eagle and F-14 Tomcat. The jet's different versions can carry out almost any aerial warfare mission, and it is built for air superiority. In 1977, the Soviet Union requested the Su-27. It was first presented after eight years.

Su-27 Flanker / Twitter.com / Milairpix AFLT did not let me down. Flanker was the NATO reporting name assigned to the Su-27. There have been several variations of the Flanker, including the 30, 33, 34, 35, 37, and J-11. A licensed Chinese-built Su-27 variant is the Shenyang J-11. The most recent innovation from Sukhoi Flanker is the Sukhoi Last Flanker. New thrust-vectoring AL-41F1S engines, N035 Irbis-E radar, a smaller radar cross section, and upgraded avionics are all features of the upgraded Flanker. Only Ukraine has finished any additional improvements or modifications since the Su-35/Last Flanker, and those were all done on the Su-27.