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

[Kyussis]

Even with SU-35S in hand Iranian military doctrine will still rely upon Missiles. SU-35S are arriving to fit in as "super interceptors". IRGCASF will never give up their place as main deterrent force of IRI. This has to do with inner politics of defense branches as well. Larger IRIAF means more budget allocation to them which will be hard for IRGCASF to digest. They can put forward the case that they single handedly fought the war and quite successfully on their part so why would their proportion of budget be cut to accommodate IRIAF.

IRGCASF needs a strong IRIAF to keep the heat off of them to be able deploy and fire their SSMs in large volume in future conflict. The only chance for Iran's survival rests in effective combined arms operations and I highly doubt IRGCASF liked loosing 600 personnel the last time around.

 

[Kyussis]

Su-75?
I would go for that.....

Su-57 is a much more matured product than the Su-75. There is currently no Su-75s in service anywhere in the world.

 

[ToddE]

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Just 2 F-14AM exist so they wasted the paint on aggressors. I would say its for IRIAF F-5E/F.

For those wondering, encouraged by Obama's release of crucial US exclusively built spare parts, F-14AM was an extensive MLU+Upgrade plan that was only roughly 30% followed due to extreme budget cuts of IRIAF by IRI Leadership. The initial plan was to bring 44 airframes to minimal flying hour status but the budget per airframe went out of control like Kowsar AT or F-4E Dowran upgrade before that. It probably went as high as 15-20 million USD and IRIAF could not afford it on chokingly low budget so the program collapsed completely and IRIAF went for SU-35S. Ironically, war with Israel happened in between death of F-14AM program and SU-35S procurement so IRIAF had no plane to challenge IAF over Iraq and IRIAD's longest range HIMADs could not reach the attackers either.

A fully MLUed/upgraded F-14AM as was planned could rival the A2A capabilities of F-15S, SU-30SM or MIG-31BM easily. Few planes were to be dedicated for ELINT and attack roles too. A fleet of ~44 such aircrafts would have choked IAF's refuelers and ALBM launchers over Iraq.

If Ukraine war has taught us anything, every airframe counts in the end. Even with SU-35S in hands, I would still prefer that F-14A fleet should be given to IRGCASF's aviation wing. They run on 30 times larger budget then IRIAF and are a shockingly efficient, war hardened/proven force. They may create a fleet of their own F-14AMs while IRIAF becomes a Russian only force with YAK-130, SU-35S, MIG-29SMT, SU-24MK2.

 

[ToddE]

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Russia offers location production and technology transfer for su-57 to India!

if the offer is open to Iran, we should take it no matter the cost

I would be surprised if Russia fulfills the SU-35S contract and does not pull another Yeltsin-Rafsanjani Fiasco 2.0.

 

[ToddE]

I agree. But IMO Missile force works more than good. IRIAF just need to have real deterrence capability. But for win the Air superiority IRIAF would need at least 250 and some of them 5 Gen, not to mention AEW. Something like this would mean to change completely a doctrine because of money scarcity. IMO Missile force worked excellent. Please don't touch the only part that really works.

Offcourse, IRGCASF performed brilliantly. They are IRI's equivalent of Shah's preferred IIAF. Massively funded with upto 6 Billion USD just for missile forces, they may even end up with 20 Billion USD a year if Khamenei's 35+ Bilion USD defence budget order is followed. High tech to the core, can launch from a TERCOMed Long ranged LACM, hypersonic skip glide missile to a MaRVed IRBM or solid fuled Tristaged SLV. People forget they also have among top five largest Drone fleets as well. Its a deeply entrenched large force with their own large network of bases. Outside superpowers, easily the most accomplished war hardened missile strike corp in the world. This is one of the reason I always have been in favor of entire IRIAF be given to them under one joint command. IRGC on its own pulled Russia into Syrian war when Soleimani went to Putin. They without getting old Ayatollahs involved, purchased T-90SM, SU-25 from Russia for Syria, overhauled and sent SU-22M3/M4 to Assads airforce so they are kinda sentient on their own. Outside US, they were the first combat force to operate network of MALE/ISTAR UCAVs in a 3rd country. It would not only save IRIAF but it would also force IRGCASF to enlarge itself. Soleimani LEO constellation plan would kick off properly instead of ISA and IRGC throwing few LEO sats here and there.

IRIAF alone on the other hand runs on 200-400 Million USD. Even if they get these hypothetical SU-35S, MIG-29SMTs and what not, how will they operationalize them on this small money is questionable.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Su-75?
I would go for that.....

Su75 does not exist and most likely will never exist.

(corrected)

 

[hasssanali8998]

Su57 does not exist and most likely will never exist.

*Su 75 .

 

[Flotilla]

[Actu] Le Yakovlev Yak-130M

Le Yakovlev Yak-130M

redsamovar.com

This is one of my preferred blogs. There is a very good article why a Yak130M (light fighter) it is not a good idea.
Also IRIAF has Kowsar/Saeqeh family that at least are supersonic. So all in all, IRIAF should be centered in Su35 and prepare the way for a 5 gen aircraft.

 

[OldTwilight]

IR is too corrupted to spend money in rebuilding Air force

 

[Ali_Baba]

IR is too corrupted to spend money in rebuilding Air force

Time will tell, but their recent experience with the "Supreme leader" hiding under a mountain in Tehran, running between multiple locations for his dear life, while the IDF Airforce tried to hunt him down to kill him, and bombing the locations he was at, should have changed both his mind and that of the regime as a whole.

I will be astounded if it has not. People, do eventually "learn", however bad things may look like on the outside.

Self survival of the regime itself has got to include a stronger airforce now, so don't underestimate the value of self interest.

 

[ToddE]

[Actu] Le Yakovlev Yak-130M

Le Yakovlev Yak-130M

redsamovar.com

This is one of my preferred blogs. There is a very good article why a Yak130M (light fighter) it is not a good idea.
Also IRIAF has Kowsar/Saeqeh family that at least are supersonic. So all in all, IRIAF should be centered in Su35 and prepare the way for a 5 gen aircraft.

Fully armed Kowsar will chew Yak-130M for fun in A2A engagement. But I will be satisfied if they integrate ~60 YAK-130E/M for AT/CAS role and give up on Kowsar completely. 18 x YAK-130M have come as CKD kits which means Iran has decent assembly infrastructure already. Its turbofans are pretty modern for IAIO-TEM to study. A single modern platform for training pilots for Air-superiority MRCAs. Iranian local F-5 program will serve no purpose in future as the entire IRIAF will become a Russian tech based force so what will pilots gain from training on Italian based radar with SAIRAN cockpit layouts on Kowsar?

Iran needs a moderate sized interceptor based airforce that can venture out of Iranian IADS and stop enemy from launching SOWs/ALBMs from outside Iran. Larger IRIAF will become a liability in a proper war in modern times. More planes => more bases => more missile targets for enemy. Let IRGCASF take the lead role while IADS and IRIAF stay as the sky gaurds.

 

[Persian Gulf]

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they are back to their old games

 

[ToddE]

SAIRAN's head Rastegari, IAIO head Khajedfard and IRIAF's "Hejab for all" Chief Vahedi are the biggest frauds in the entire defense sector of Iran.

They are not stupid, they know majority of IRI cultists are low IQ and pro-incompetence so they dish out what the followers want to hear. Cant believe these people can survive at such critical posts.

 

[MMCM]

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Came across this on Facebook, credibility questionable

 

[Michael]

So all in all, IRIAF should be centered in Su35 and prepare the way for a 5 gen aircraft.

For a considerable period in the future, Iran will face delivery problems when purchasing any Russian fighter jets (including the Su-35 and Su-57).

This is due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war:
1. Russia has limited production capacity.
2. The Russian Air Force itself has a huge shortage of fighter jets.

If Iran is willing to wait for a longer period, or accept receiving only a very small number of fighter jets each year, then your point is indeed valid.