Iranian Air Force (IRIAF/IRGC-ASF) | News and Discussions

[Ali_Baba]

View attachment 156592
300 F-16s wow

Fighter jets back then cost less, relative to the size of the economy than they do now. If you look at the size of PAF F86 orders, you can see they were ordered in much larger numbers.

 

[Fatman17]

Fighter jets back then cost less, relative to the size of the economy than they do now. If you look at the size of PAF F86 orders, you can see they were ordered in much larger numbers.

Most all F-86s were used aircraft from USAF lran and West Germany. Some Canadian too.

 

[Fatman17]

What is so strange.
It was supposed to replace replace f4 and f5

I said wow

 

[Persian Gulf]

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[Persian Gulf]

View attachment 156592
300 F-16s wow

very bad timing, if revolution was even 2 years later then Saddam would never invade and 300,000+ lives would be saved

 

[Shafagh]

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Very true. Everything these religious guys touch becomes tainted. They are even doing it to sports clubs.

I am afraid the quality of pilots may also be suspect; they are recruiting and promoting based on ideology and religious fervor, not skills.

This is a dangerous path to take. We have seen plenty of arab armies with ranks filled with yes men, too scared to tell the truth. The result is an incompetent military good at military parades and bombastic rhetoric, but failure on the battlefield.

At least there were some IIAF fighter aces who stayed on to train the next generation of pilots, but they too have retired.

 

[Persian Gulf]

Very true.

I am afraid the quality of pilots may also be suspect; they are recruiting and promoting based on ideology and religious fervor, not skills.

This is a dangerous path to take. We have seen plenty of arab countries with ranks filled with yes men, too scared to tell the truth. The result is an incompetent military good and military parades and bombastic rhetoric, but failure on the battlefield.

At least there were some IIAF fighter aces who stayed on to train the next generation of pilots, but they too have retired.

as soon as I saw the video of the pilots bragging about flying for hours and forcing an Israeli jet to turn around over Esfahan in front of the chief of staff I knew we were cooked

 

[Shafagh]

I'm glad he survived. His opinion as someone who was there is very valuable.

That's why I specify culturally here.
But really, Iran has been conquered by pretty much all it's neighboring ethnic groups: central Asians Turks, Mongols, Arabs, and even Afghans. I personally wouldn't put any emphasis on some Indo-European heritage that, if it exists, has been diluted over thousands of years.
It's usually these groups from outside the Iranian plateau that form successful Iranian states anyways. Persians can't fight well at all, it's why Iran has been conquered so many times.



@Shafagh Since I was opening that book back up anyways, I will also add another quote from the same source (page 320) regarding IIAF pilots.

Who were the western and non-western counter parts?

If we are talking Japan and European countries, you cannot compare them to Iran. Japan had years of experience in naval aviation where many lessons were learned, skills sharpened. They fought the U.S. The same can be said of Europe. They have experience and probably more flight hours.

Iran essentially learned from scratch, with the Shah dragging the country kicking and screaming into the 20th century, the technological leap was immense.

Yet somehow, we managed to create the most decorated Tomcat aces in the world, with more kills than even American Tomcat pilots.

Give Iranians the tools, and they will succeed. Necessity is the mother of invention. Iran is proof of that.

It's when it comes to religion and governance, that we sh** the bed. None of us can deny this. Even our local I.r. cheerleaders here are quiet.

 

[OldTwilight]

as soon as I saw the video of the pilots bragging about flying for hours and forcing an Israeli jet to turn around over Esfahan in front of the chief of staff I knew we were cooked

probably they just flew it to not being targeted on the ground

 

[sahureka2]

The Iranian-made plane Simorgh has officially started its test flights as the aircraft prepares to join the country’s cargo fleet.
Simorgh’s test flights began in an airfield in the city of Shahin Shahr in central Iran on Tuesday after a ceremony attended by deputy heads of Iran’s ministries of defense and transportation.

Iran begins test flights of home-made cargo plane

Iran’s Simorgh plane starts test flights as it prepares to join the country’s cargo fleet.

www.presstv.ir

 

[Shafagh]

The Iranian-made plane Simorgh has officially started its test flights as the aircraft prepares to join the country’s cargo fleet.
Simorgh’s test flights began in an airfield in the city of Shahin Shahr in central Iran on Tuesday after a ceremony attended by deputy heads of Iran’s ministries of defense and transportation.

Iran begins test flights of home-made cargo plane

Iran’s Simorgh plane starts test flights as it prepares to join the country’s cargo fleet.

www.presstv.ir

View attachment 156835

So the problems with Iran 140 have been resolved?

 

[sahureka2]

So the problems with Iran 140 have been resolved?

If I recall correctly, the problem with the IrAn-140 was a failure of the engine and the electronic engine control system, or EEC, which in the 2014 crash did not automatically feather the propeller during the engine failure.
In any case, there were other contributing factors to that crash, including human error before and during the technical problem that led to the aircraft's crash.
According to recent reports, the engines have been upgraded to eliminate the defects and faults.

I attach the video file of the interview during the test launch ceremony, produced by IRIBNEWS.

https://media.hamshahrionline.ir/d/2025/10/29/0/5265467.mp4?ts=1761751449000

 

[sahureka2]

At the ceremony, the project for a commercial jet-powered aircraft was presented again (indicated by the red arrow) alongside the authorities.

 

[Immortals]

What is so strange.
It was supposed to replace replace f4 and f5

40+ years later we are still trying to replace F4/F5

The hostage taking of US Embassy diplomats was the wrong move. By all means expel the US, but it should have been done in a professional manner not like religious fanatics or ISIS. Even Taliban didn’t do what Iran did.

U.S. will never stop trying to punish Iran for that moment.

 

[BigMela2onin]

Who were the western and non-western counter parts?

If we are talking Japan and European countries, you cannot compare them to Iran. Japan had years of experience in naval aviation where many lessons were learned, skills sharpened. They fought the U.S. The same can be said of Europe. They have experience and probably more flight hours.

Farrokh cites "Zabih 1988" which is likely The Iranian military in revolution and war by Sepehr Zabih. I don't have this book so you'd have to track it down or find the original Pentagon report to to get specifics. But speculatively, lots of African, South American, and Asian nations operate US aircraft; non-western nations likely refers to any of these nations.

Iran essentially learned from scratch, with the Shah dragging the country kicking and screaming into the 20th century, the technological leap was immense.

Well Iranians ended up rejecting this move didn't they? We rejected modernity and choose superstition and backwardness.

Yet somehow, we managed to create the most decorated Tomcat aces in the world, with more kills than even American Tomcat pilots.

The most kills and also the most F-14 losses, because they saw the most combat with Iran. It's unrelated to pilot skill.

Give Iranians the tools, and they will succeed. Necessity is the mother of invention. Iran is proof of that.

It's when it comes to religion and governance, that we sh** the bed. None of us can deny this. Even our local I.r. cheerleaders here are quiet.

If you have ineffective governance, how can you have anything else?