IRIA News

The commander of the Iranian Air Force (IRAF) Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi said that Iran plans to acquire Russia’s ‘most sophisticated’ Su-35 Fighter jets. The announcement came shortly after Iran sold hundreds of drones to Russia.

“This issue is on the agenda, and we hope to be able to get these 4++ generation fighters in the future,” Vehedi said during an interview with an Iranian news agency. He said that the Iranian Air Force is discussing the purchase of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets rather than the speculated Su-30 jets. However, he emphasized that the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff Headquarters will take the final decision of purchasing the Su-35 aircraft.

There had been several speculations about the increasing military ties between Iran and Russia, however, neither side has been vocal about their military agreements and weapons deals.

The IRAF chief did not specify the number of jets that Iran plans to purchase, some media outlets reported that Iran plans to buy 24 Su-35SE jets from Russia in a deal worth $10 billion. Apart from the fighter jets, Iran also plans to buy two upgraded S-400 air defense systems and a military satellite from Russia.

The Su-35SE Flanker-E multi-role fighter is the latest and most advanced variant of the Su-27 Flanker.

Egypt also planned to purchase Russian-made Su-35SE Fighter Jets but backed out of the deal after the United States threatened to sanction Cairo under its Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). Since the deal broke down between Russia and Egypt, 15 Su-35SE ready-to-fly jets have been sitting idle and Russia is expected to deliver those jets to Iran

Russia-Iran defense ties

Defense ties between Iran and Russia became stronger since Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 and received relief from some of the defense-related trade embargoes and sanctions.

In August 2022, Iran provided Russia with much-needed attack drones to be used in its war against Ukraine. According to Pentagon officials, Iran plans to deliver hundreds of advanced combat drones to Russia. The first batch of drones delivered to Moscow from Tehran includes Shahed 129/191 and Mohajer-6 drones last month with hundreds of more drones to be delivered in near future. Iran’s delivery of drones to Russia and the timing of the statement from the IRAF chief suggests that Tehran is providing Moscow with the attack drones in exchange for its Su-35 fighter jets.

Shahed-129 – This is a multirole drone capable of carrying out reconnaissance missions and precision air-to-ground strikes with small guided munitions. Iran has reportedly used this drone for both external and internal missions since unveiling the drone in September 2012. The development of Shahed-129 is based on  MQ-1 Predator (US) and Hermes 450 (Israel). The UAV has a maximum range reaches 1,700 km and flight endurance of about 24 hours.

Mohajer-6 – Mohajer was Iran’s first drone to enter series production in the 1980s. First unveiled in 2017, Mohajer-6 officially entered serial production in February 2018 and was designed to carry out both reconnaissance and attack operations for the Iranian military. Mohajer-6 “is an Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) UAV capable of carrying a multispectral surveillance payload and/or up to two precision-guided munitions” according to the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) report.

Earlier this year, Iranian state-owned media unveiled an underground drone base that contains at least 100 drones including Iran’s most advanced and newly built Ababil-5 drone which is equipped with Qaem-9 missile system. Ababil-5 is the Iranian version of the U.S. Hellfire air-to-surface attack drone.

Iran has modern drones but aging fleet of fighter jets  

Iran has mastered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturing and assumed a more prominent role as an emerging military power in the Middle East. Iran has been using its high-tech attack drones in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. Tehran has developed several kinds of short-range and long-range UAVs for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

Despite doing well in drone production and development, the vintage fleet of fighter jets that have developed technical issues which also caused fatal crashes. Iranian Air Force relies upon the F-14A Tomcat jets that it acquired back in 1979. Apart from that older F-4s, F-5s, and Soviet-build Sukhoi and MiG jets make it evident that the Iranian Air Force is standing on its last legs.

Iran bought the last aircraft s in 1990. Those were 18 MiG-29A jets and 12 Su-24MK jets from the Soviet Union. A further addition to the aerial fleet came in 1991 when Iran confiscated an Iraqi MiG-29S and a French-built Mirage F1s during the Persian Gulf war. As a part of a defense deal with Russia, Iran would also upgrade its aging fleet of Soviet-era fighter jets.