It doesn't really answer why Missiles!!!
1. During the Iran-Iraq war and even till today they wouldn't even sell Iran parts for it's current fighters let alone sell Iran advanced fighters and due to lack of parts and ordinance Iran's Air force was running short in supply and the only weapon we could buy to respond to Saddam's Missile attacks were missiles
2. Tehrani Moghadam! It was his dream that made it possible and if it wasn't because of his organizational skill and relentless work we would not be where we are today and that is a FACT!!!!
3. Missiles alone can't make up for a lack of an air force BUT Iranian technology both in range and accuracy have reached to a point that we can target and hit Radars, SAM, Runway's, Aircraft Bunkers, Naval ports as far as 700km from our boarders. + longer range missiles that can greatly disrupt Air Bases operations up to 1600 km away
And any fighter that has to travel 700km just to get to Iranian boarders and without the help of ground based radars and SAM's will have extreme difficulty hitting high value targets inside Iran let alone gaining air superiority!
And with no Air Defense system it will be easier and safer for Iranian fighters to go in and take out other targets.
And because of these advances in Iranian missiles technology and PGM of all types and size the only type of advanced fighter Iran truly needs are Air Superiority fighters to protect it's troops, SAM sites and other assets from other aircrafts.
4.The fact that Iran has these capabilities deters any foolish attempts by any logical neighboring leader!
But all these don't preclude the fact that Iran is in dire need of an advanced air superiority fighter!
If Iran has to procure air superiority fighters as good as or superior to the F-14D!
If we want to build it, it has to be a 2 engine Mach 2+ fighter equipped with, Air refueling, an IRST, BVR capabilities. Upgraded AWG/9 (Iran can easily build an upgraded AWG/9 radar by greatly increasing the processing power and adding a more advanced antenna. Iran has also demonstrated in it's air defense systems that it can produce a more accurate version of the Phoenix missiles with greater maneuverability, range and precision.
