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

[ToddE]

The MIG 29 is a MIG 35. I can't understand why people insist on these runaway types. The competition in Russia was decided in favor of the SZU 35. The mention of maintenance and pilots is also inappropriate. With this much power, the F4 F5 F14 could also remain because you know them. We have to move forward at all costs, like it or not.

There are no IRIAF SU-35S, Russia fooled the Islamo-marxists Priests sitting in Tehran once again. This is Rafsanjani in Moscow 2.0 from 35 years back when Yeltsin tricked him into paying for 100+ MIG-29, MIG-31 and SU-24 and broke the contract.

They took entire TOT of Shaheds on which their entire strike doctrine is basing now, UCAVs, BMs along with functional INSTC trade corridor from Iran. Mullahs got like 10 Yak-130 trainers in return lol but then again Khamenei said that Iran is not important, religion is important so do they even care ?

 

[Comandante]

I hope you're wrong. There are definitely 2-4 SZU 35s in Iran. I remember there were some pictures of the transport on the forum. It's not advisable to make things public during wartime. You have to be patient.

 

[ToddE]

I hope you're wrong. There are definitely 2-4 SZU 35s in Iran. I remember there were some pictures of the transport on the forum. It's not advisable to make things public during wartime. You have to be patient.

War already happened which IRGCAF single handedly fought from Iran. If there are SU-35S inside Hamedan Shekari AB with trained pilots then that did not help Iran.

Even if IRIAF unveils 5 squadrons of SU-35S tomorrow, it will take probably 3 years for them to operationalize the jet to the point that it can take part in active war against one of the greatest and most well supplied Air arms in the world. May be even more.

Irans only choice right now to create some level of manned air combat deterrence will be to somehow get 40-50 Air-superiority jets with foreign pilots and put them on QRA duty to guard Iranian airspace over Iraqi airspace.

 

[Ali_Baba]

War already happened which IRGCAF single handedly fought from Iran. If there are SU-35S inside Hamedan Shekari AB with trained pilots then that did not help Iran.

Even if IRIAF unveils 5 squadrons of SU-35S tomorrow, it will take probably 3 years for them to operationalize the jet to the point that it can take part in active war against one of the greatest and most well supplied Air arms in the world. May be even more.

Irans only choice right now to create some level of manned air combat deterrence will be to somehow get 40-50 Air-superiority jets with foreign pilots and put them on QRA duty to guard Iranian airspace over Iraqi airspace.

The weak point for Israel is the air to air refuellers over Iraq and Syria, if those could be targetted/destroyed, then the IDFs reach to attack Iran will be massively reduced. Also, IDF jets will be forced to carry BVR/AA missiles to defend themselves(which they were seen not doing as they faced no IIRAF threat at all), which reduces their weapons payload that they can use against Iran. Some strikes can still take place by the IDF IAF as they do have some buddy-to-buddy refuelling capabilities, but the overall throughput goes down to manageable levels.

That is why having a viable air force is so important. It does not need to be technologically superior to the F-35, it needs to be able to successfully attack and destroy the logistics support line over Iraq so stop the attacks. Su-35 is one option, but J10CE with an integrated Chinese AEW&C solution is will be much more effective. Russia does not have a viable AEW&C or AWACS solution for export sales, China does.

Iran just needs to be able to go for the weak choke point of the IDF IAF, ie air to air refuellers. It will be an expensive mission interms of attrition for sure, but those refuellers are limited in numbers to start with.

 

[ShapurII]

The weak point for Israel is the air to air refuellers over Iraq and Syria, if those could be targetted/destroyed, then the IDFs reach to attack Iran will be massively reduced. Also, IDF jets will be forced to carry BVR/AA missiles to defend themselves(which they were seen not doing as they faced no IIRAF threat at all), which reduces their weapons payload that they can use against Iran. Some strikes can still take place by the IDF IAF as they do have some buddy-to-buddy refuelling capabilities, but the overall throughput goes down to manageable levels.

That is why having a viable air force is so important. It does not need to be technologically superior to the F-35, it needs to be able to successfully attack and destroy the logistics support line over Iraq so stop the attacks. Su-35 is one option, but J10CE with an integrated Chinese AEW&C solution is will be much more effective. Russia does not have a viable AEW&C or AWACS solution for export sales, China does.

Iran just needs to be able to go for the weak choke point of the IDF IAF, ie air to air refuellers. It will be an expensive mission interms of attrition for sure, but those refuellers are limited in numbers to start with.

I have said this a thousand times. They just don't want to listen to the most basic facts about air power.

I'm not talking about Emirzad, whom you're quoting. Emirzad is one of the well-educated people here who understands military affairs well. But we have had people here who believed that an air force is useless and unnecessarily expensive when you have missiles for offense. lol

Everything that happened during the 12 day war had been thoroughly warned about by a lot of people many times, including me on several occasions. The IR is extremely incompetent, but it is quite good at convincing their supporters of their foolish ideas like the uselessness of an air force, or nuclear weapons lol

 

[Pak-Warrior]

War already happened which IRGCAF single handedly fought from Iran. If there are SU-35S inside Hamedan Shekari AB with trained pilots then that did not help Iran.

Even if IRIAF unveils 5 squadrons of SU-35S tomorrow, it will take probably 3 years for them to operationalize the jet to the point that it can take part in active war against one of the greatest and most well supplied Air arms in the world. May be even more.

Irans only choice right now to create some level of manned air combat deterrence will be to somehow get 40-50 Air-superiority jets with foreign pilots and put them on QRA duty to guard Iranian airspace over Iraqi airspace.

True. Excessive training is essential, building tactics and doctrines based on your fighter jets and weapon systems. That all takes time. Otherwise they'll lose from the opponent (which apparently has better and more advance systems and a lot of experience and training)

Russia has limitations and with its war on Ukraine those limitations are now even further. Russia also proved to be non-trust worthy ally. A country which was caring more for Israel then Iran. Iran needs to have partnership with China. Which is essentially the only other super power of the world and with technology that can beat West's. China apparently also helped resolve diplomatic issues bw Iran and KSA. As China is interested in whole of this region, the middle east. China could only use its full potential if GCC and Iran resolve their differences. China don't care about Israel as it knows that Israel is super ally of its biggest rival (the US). But China do care about rich GCC countries. China can provide even stealth fighter jets and china can take payments in oil & gas shipments. Its ideal partnership scenario. Only reluctance could be because of Iran is kind of isolated in region and many countries weren't happy because of its proxy networks. Shift needs to happen, make good relations in neighborhood, that will automatically strengthen Iran and ability to make great deals militarily and economically.

 

[Ak01]

View attachment 135319

that 747 tanker is fine. i saw it parked at karachi. i went there literally the day after the iranian attacks. It was still there when i left two weeks ago. You can see it when inbound. Got a view of the boom face to face so 100% the 747 tanker is ok and wasnt destroyed

 

[ToddE]

I have said this a thousand times. They just don't want to listen to the most basic facts about air power.

I'm not talking about Emirzad, whom you're quoting. Emirzad is one of the well-educated people here who understands military affairs well. But we have had people here who believed that an air force is useless and unnecessarily expensive when you have missiles for offense. lol

Everything that happened during the 12 day war had been thoroughly warned about by a lot of people many times, including me on several occasions. The IR is extremely incompetent, but it is quite good at convincing their supporters of their foolish ideas like the uselessness of an air force, or nuclear weapons lol

Thanks for the nice words man.

IRIAF is a basket case, Iran will have an Airforce, a LEO constellation, nuclear weapons, strong ethnonationalistic narrative etc all of that, once foreign deployed/serving IRI system ceases to exist. Its an ancient nation, a cradle of civilisation that you can only keep under the thumb for some time then it will bounce back.

For now we can just feel kinda proud on IRGACF's achievements in last 5-10 years including the 12 day war where they were not detered for a second by much superior enemy and kept on rubbling the enemy till the last second. I just hope the next leaders of Iran whoever they are, do not bundle up achievements of IRGCAF out of hatred seeing it as a IRI legacy like how Mullahs ruined IRIAF seeing it as a Shahi legacy.

Iran needs both a strong AF and a top notch Aerospace esp missile program that it already has but times are changing, we need to move ahead as well.

 

[ShapurII]

Thanks for the nice words man.

IRIAF is a basket case, Iran will have an Airforce, a LEO constellation, nuclear weapons, strong ethnonationalistic narrative etc all of that, once foreign deployed/serving IRI system ceases to exist. Its an ancient nation, a cradle of civilisation that you can only keep under the thumb for some time then it will bounce back.

For now we can just feel kinda proud on IRGACF's achievements in last 5-10 years including the 12th day war where they were not detered for a second by much superior enemy and kept on rubbling the enemy till the last second. I just hope the next leaders of Iran whoever they are, do not bundle up achievements of IRGCAF out of hatred seeing it as a IRI legacy like how Mullahs ruined IRIAF seeing it as a Shahi legacy.

Iran needs both a strong AF and a top notch Aerospace program that it already has but times are changing, we need to move ahead as well.

What saddens me the most is that we're not only stagnating, but we're moving backwards in many things. One may argue that we were closer to most of these things a decade or two decades ago than we are now.

IRGCAF did meet my expectations when it came to ballistic missiles, but they failed terribly when it came to drone power. Our drones could've changed everything for us, but we failed.

 

[ToddE]

What saddens me the most is that we're not only stagnating, but we're moving backwards in many things. One may argue that we were closer to most of these things a decade or two decades ago than we are now.

IRI was at its peak in mid 2010s with successes in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine etc. Missile forces were booming, networks were spread all across the region. Nobody dared to challenge Iran in its yard. Some Israeli think tank said at that time that Iranian Generals can drive their car from Tehran to coast of Mediterranean sea or their boat from Persian gulf to Red sea without challenge (or something similar). This was the time Iran should have moved on from relic leadership to more progressive minded nationalistic leadership that focused on Iran more than it focuses on Israel. We missed the boat.

IRGCAF did meet my expectations when it came to ballistic missiles, but they failed terribly when it came to drone power. Our drones could've changed everything for us, but we failed.

With the current weakness of leadership, a fleet of 500 5th gen jets and 1000 new MALE drones wont make a difference. Remember this is the same leadership that refused to nuclearise Iran with tools in its hands for last 30 years. The will to survive is just not there.

 

[Comandante]

I think you are wrong again. For an F4, F5, F14 pilot, transferring to a 4+, 5th generation aircraft is not difficult. The reason for the easier transfer is the automated functions that make driving and air combat easier. I would compare it to moving from a 50-year-old car to an electric car that has a 360-degree camera system, ABD, and all kinds of radars, etc. All of these comfort functions help relieve the pilot.

 

[Comandante]

Think about the difference between the helmet display and the F4's radar image and projector.

 

[ToddE]

I think you are wrong again. For an F4, F5, F14 pilot, transferring to a 4+, 5th generation aircraft is not difficult. The reason for the easier transfer is the automated functions that make driving and air combat easier. I would compare it to moving from a 50-year-old car to an electric car that has a 360-degree camera system, ABD, and all kinds of radars, etc. All of these comfort functions help relieve the pilot.

Modern Aerial warfare does not revolve around pilot only. Adapting a modern fighter is just not easy because "AI" is there now.

IRIAF will need to adapt the maintenance of the jet, establish its reliable supply line of parts from Russia/Belarus.

Set up workshops that will run on full heat during war time since MTBOs of Russian engines are <<< western ones.

Adapt it to local IADS/GWACS and other fighters, UVACS for datalinks and cues since current Iranian datalink is natively built while flankers use Russian one.

Create and practice scenarios of interceptions, CAPS, QRAs etc That itself takes years and years because Iran has a huge territory with thousands of possibilities.

How does the combat suite respond to different types of jamming environments? What can be the ECM/ECCM strategy when you face an Israeli F-35 over Iraq or US F-22 over Persian Gulf?

Can they land on highways? Can they land and operate out of other bases if the home AB is out of commission during a war?

Like I said it takes years. Even if there are few SU-35S parked in Hamedan, they are as good as Saddams MIG-29s were against IRIAF's American trained pilots with thousands of hours of combat training in same jets they were flying in war.

 

[KingQamaR]

Buy hardware is one thing, train your pilots and support crew will need a minimum of 5 years to be good at it. Plus, in order for this to be effective, needs to buy to whole integrated package with radars a, air defence missiles, AWAC and a secure data link. Iranian factional rivalry government doesn't have a track record of being good at any of that.

 

[Flotilla]

Everything that happened during the 12 day war had been thoroughly warned about by a lot of people many times, including me on several occasions. The IR is extremely incompetent, but it is quite good at convincing their supporters of their foolish ideas like the uselessness of an air force, or nuclear weapons lol

All you said it is true.

1º.- Air Force have been key in the damage inflicted by Israel to Irán.

2º.- Irán needs urgently to refurbish and create a real air force with long range interceptors and capable of real BVR combat and maximum real awareness (that requires modern AEW/AWACS capability). And that take YEARS.

But the point I disagree it is that IRI authorities did know. They did know perfectly they were fighting with a tied hand. But the problem have been always two:

1º.- IRI doesn´t have money for a modern multirole air force and a huge missile force. Scarcity seems to have pushed IRI to choose one.

2º.- Technological restrictions. I don´t know if Russia have violated any hypothetical weapons transfer agreement. But seems clearly day after day that everybody tried to degrade IRIAF don´t allowing any meaningful weapon sells to IRI. From US to Japan, including probably Russia and possibly even China. No one wanted IRI to build a real and capable IRIAF.

The fall of Lebanese allied (HZ) and the constant harassment from US to China maybe shift the perspective of high technological transfer to IRI from alternative suppliers (China it is the sole real alternative to Su35 or Mig29).

But let´s be honest. Nobody in the Middle East want a challeging and modern IRIAF. Let´s see if Xi understand that a huge arms deal with IRI can break the straitjacket from other part than Taiwán.