GreetingsExcept that Iran has no "cheap" drone that can challenge Israeli or even arab forces in the air or deliver "precision guidance" while being "stealth".
The intentional murder of IRIAF has now provided IAF the opportunity to roam freely over Iraqi airspace as we saw 4 months back. They can come in unthreatened, launch lofted ALBMs which no HIMADS in current Iranian service can engage. Radar sites and layered AD will be taken out. The same bases which may house prized possessions like S-300PMU2, F-14A/AM, SU-35S, Bavar-373, Mehran, AESA track radar or OTHs are defenseless unless Iran develops efficient most THAAD, or just invest in an airforce that can least thwart the enemy not to come closer to Iranian border. This is just one theatre, what about the Persian Gulf which has roughly 800 x 4/4+ generation fighters in the hands of enemies of Iran. These fighters can deliver SOWs out of the range of Iranian IADS to deplete the IADS we are so proud of while we will be sitting and taking it and our generals will be vowing "revenge" through statements. 15 years ago someone would have laughed at the idea of Israel freely assassinating Iranian-backed group leaders, freely bombing Lebanon, Syria, flying over Iraq, conducting assassinations, sabotages inside Iran. That all happened so while we can sit here and laugh at US backed sheikhdoms for now, nobody knows what kind of future we will be having with them. This argument that we can't fight USAF/USN so we should also open our legs for Israeli and Arab airforces is funny at best.
This is really a dark picture, one which I unfortunately have to weigh seriously.
With the F-14's, F-4's and MiG-29s on their literal last legs, the IRIAF liberally bears all of the hallmarks of a hostile takeover, such as that usually found on Wall Street.
Want to comment on your other posts separately, especially on the apparent disappearances of the -90B and Arash L-W BVR AAM's.
Also, something that has puzzled me for some time now is the exitance of the Oghab-44 underground air base 'Eagle 44'.
Concentrating any number of the valuable remaining combat a/c of the IRIAF in this way is bound to be a honeypot for numerous, numerous, aerial attacks. True, while the base itself may hold up, this does not necessarily hold true for the exit points (hidden or otherwise).
Piet
Piet