IRIAF | News and Discussions

[aryobarzan]

I can't agree or disagree with that but what I have read is that there were a group of IRIAF officers from the Iraq war who fell in love with F-5E/F because of its performance during the war. It shot down Mig-25RB/PD, MIG-21MF/BIS, and SU-22/20 and just was never shot itself at the BVR range despite the fact there were a number of reports of MIG-25PD or MIG-23ML shooting their R-40, R-23 BVR missiles at it but none hit because of low RCS airframe. Its driven F/A-18 and F-18EF are documented by the US navy to have 1-2 m^2 RCS. It also took part in bombing or diversion-causing invasions into enemy territory such as during the attack on H-3 and was again never easy to catch. As underpowered it is, it can reach 0.9 Mach at low levels without afterburners.

So when these pilots and battle planners gained bigger ranks laterwards in IRIAF they started focusing on domestic production of a local F-5E/F variant. One of these guys was Mansour Sattari who was the IRIAF Commander in mid 1990s. His plan was to follow the Shahi era blue prints of F/A-18 domestic production and develop a local fighter having an airframe of F-5E/F with RD-33 turbofan with N019 radar with R-27/R-73 package. He died on duty and Russia backed out of MIG-29+MIG-31 deals with IRIAF which were signed by Rafsanjani and Yeltsin.
So the project went to CATIC of China under the title "Silk Route II" in which the avionics package of the most modern J7E were to be installed on F-5E/F with some 30-40 % locally built airframe. That plane became Azarakhsh (the green one) with stupid Sy-80 radar and PL-7C missiles. IRIAF was not happy with it at all because they abhorred F-7 already. So it never went into production.

The next plan was to make the plane even more modernized with a Western-origin avionics package. At that time Chinese NRIET which is part of CATIC China somehow started copying LEONARDO GRIFO radars of Italian origin. Some people including me believe that Italians sold their designs to CATIC for hefty prices because they would not want to sell anything to rogue nations directly. Grifo-S7 became NRIET KLJ-7 (FC-1/JF-17), Grifo-E became KLJ-7A AESA (J-31) and GRIFO-346 became SAIRAN (Iran) Bayyenat-II on Kowsar-I (Chinese designation is KLJ-6F probably???). The design is exact replica including the number and layout of T/R modules. It's quite a modern system with a Detection/Track range of 120/94 KM for 1m2 RCS target. It has look down shoot down capability and SAR of 1m2 (better than SU-35S's IRBIS), and has an internal ECM package. It's currently being used by M-346 and at one point was even considered for YAK-131. Technically it can track even a F-18EF at around 100 KM and fire a salvo of R-77AE/PL-12/PL-15 at it.

Because of sanctions on Iran during Ahmadinejad era, Chinese left and HESA was contracted by IRIAF to carry on the Silk Route II Project. They made some radical changes to the design such as the plan changed to the point that F-5E/F basic airframe will be modified with twin stabilizers and the airintakes will be squared up to gain high AOA and they will be under the wings and locally produced OWJ turbojets will be installed on the plane. According to the extremely detailed work published in key.aero every prototype had an increasing % of locally built airframes like Saeghe-II in 2015 was upto 70 % locally built.

The plan failed because (A) IRIAF had no money to supply to HESA for further work (B) The OWJ Turbojets were not powerful enough to extract fast pitch/yaw/roll for which the airframe was modified. Russia only supplied ~50 RD-33 in early 2000s which went to MIG-29 9.12 fleet despite the fact that order was for 250 RD-33 to be used on Shafagh and Saeghe-I/II. So Saegheh-I/II project got bundled up in 2016-2017 but somehow through lobbyism it was "inducted" into service at Tabriz TAB-2. HESA moved to Kowsar-I which is a mixture of few 100% locally built airframes while others use some % of local parts. According to BT the plane that was shown during its unveiling was almost 100% domestically built, was a bit larger the F-5F, it had a totally different internal structural layout (can be seen) to accommodate heavy avionics equipment. It has a modern radar (mentioned above)+ECM, Double Duplex Datalink to send and receive track-info with UCAVs/GWACS/other fighters which was confirmed by HESA-head himself. The avionics architecture consists of 4 x system computers for Weapons, Mission, and Flight management, and there is also a Ballistic Computer similar to SU-24/34 SVP-24 for precision ground strikes. Something surprising was the use of local FBW for the actuation of control surfaces. The plane turned to be quite modern for Iranian capabilities but its underpowered. You can not take on an EF-2000 or Rafale while climbing at 34000 ft/min. F-5E/F can almost supercruise on J-85II/OWJ and reach 0.9Mach without burners so at low speed or altitude the turbojets can do fine but to defend airspace against invasion you need fast climb and high acceleration which can only come from a AL-31F like a monster. Also it has no BVR missile to use. It can technically easily integrate PL-12/15 or R-77AE but they have not landed in Iran yet. Dowran F-4E/D's were supposed to recieve PL-12 but we have never seen them in pics so no evidence exists while as long as SU-35S does not land in Iran R-77AE is beyond Iranian reach as well.

Qaher is a different story altogether and I have no doubt left that it will become a UCAV in near future. Its easy to do actually with a Tolue-14 or Jahesh-700 turbofan and tons of experiences gained through Saegheh Flying wing mass production.



Why would Iran need IRIAF to deliver AShCM when they can hit a carrier at 700 KM with Zolfaghar Basir AShBM which comes down dancing with separating MaRV from the depressed trajectory or IRGC-N can deliver Salvos of Mehdi Cruise-M from 1000+ KM? Let along anything a swarm of Shahed-136 can ruin the superstructure of a ship including radar.



R-73 cant take track-info from AWG-9 so without that, and using its own seeker for tracking the target the range fo R-73 is barely 15 KM. It becomes useless for F-14A/AM.

According to BT, Babaei Missile Industries (which developed Fakour-90 LRBVR) is producing a coupled cluster imaging, All Aspect WVR missile called "Azarakhsh-I" with 40 KM range (if it takes track info from radar). We have actually seen it with 4 gimbaled motors controlling four fins separately like AIM-9X. That is for Kowsar-I/II, Yasin-Attack version, F-14AM.





F-7 is alive because of a lobby called "Erfanians" otherwise it serves no purpose in IRIAF. It lacks BVR, lacks look down shoot down, lacks ECM, it lacks everything. Mirages have no radars or even pylons. Its lobby is alive from Naghdi-beks time whose sole purpose is to somehow keep it in the fleet without weapons. IRIAF should park it in Kish and use it as a tourism jet to make money because it has no other purpose. F-5E/F is flying with APG-153 with a 36KM track range for 5 m2 target.

These three circus clown jets are a waste of money that should go to Kowsar-II production and expanding the SU-35S fleet beyond even 64. IRIAF needs nothing but SU-35S+ Kowsar-II, Karrar/Qaher based unmanned wingmen and IADS-slaved AWACS. The rest of the fleet except F-14AM does nothing for Iran. MIG-29 9.12 fleet is flying with MIG-23ML's radar and avionics package which can barely track a target of Kowsar size at 55 KM and lacks RWR. It also has no ARH BVR. Although BT is saying that MIG-29 fleet is undergoing a Billion USD MIG-29SMT level upgrade.

The most complete explanation and history I have read about IRIAF.. Kowsar ll must be prsued into full mass production...thank you drmeson .
Ps: kowsar I with FBW made my day....lol..this experience will be crucial in Iran's 75 and 150 seat Regional Jets.

 

[Mehdipersian]

Why do you hate Iran so much and love the whites?

You want that Iran becomes like South Korea? Is that an insult or something you see as good? South Korea is an US protectorate owned land.

Your whole talking point is: "Bend down to the white supremacists to remove sanctions so that we can be like South Korea and Saudis with their Lamborghini and everyone will be happy and we can make nice fighters"

You have to understand that they will never remove sanctions unless those are done by Iran:

And replace everything with US, Western monitored systems.

Or else push for a revolution, which will lead to a civil war, while the Whites will take all your ressources, you will cut your skin and cry when this would happen

He is just an idiot. He live in his fantasy not real world.

 

[SalarHaqq]

Do you know what your issue is ? Your problem is that you're not looking at the facts from an objective lens & coming to a rational conclusion based on the facts and all the available data. You've already made up your mind ahead of time and are merely looking for anything that will support your narrative. That's just confirmation bias. You basically ignore, dismiss, deflect anything that doesn't support your narrative, no matter how profound or significant. On the other hand, you find any information or data that can support your narrative, no matter how miniscule & insignificant and you proceed to put it on a pedestal.

The exact opposite holds true. My points are both fact based and reflective of a comprehensive view, your narrative on the other hand consists of cherry-picked items extrapolated to make inoperative, far-fetched deductions.

Like when you try to imply that the Rials exchange rate is not indicative of Iran's economic vitals, that's just silly. I'm sorry but I can't take you seriously.

It's the above statement that's utterly silly. Economic vitals is a plural term. Therefore it calls for the examination of not one but an entire range of macroeconomic indicators. Which is exactly what I proceeded to, as opposed to your selective fixation on the currency (and its immediate impact on poverty) because that's the only aspect you can invoke in support of your biased conclusions.

Do you realize that when Iran wants to import anything, for example from China, Iran's largest export partner, that Iran has to pay in US Dollars. The Chinese won't accept Rials will they ? Actually they won't accept Canadian Dollars, they won't accept Swiss Francs. They won't even accept Chinese Yuan (their own currency) They will only, exclusively accept US Dollars. That's because the US Dollar is the worlds reserve currency and it will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Sure there's Brics & talks about a Brics backed currency but those talks are in the early stages. If it even happens, and it's a huge IF, it will likely take decades.

More factually incorrect statements.

Not only do the Chinese accept Yuan in foreign trade, the RMB has actually overtaken the US dollar in China's external trade settlements.

China’s RMB Yuan Overtakes US Dollar Use In China’s Foreign Trade For The First Time​

Apr 27, 2023 Posted by Silk Road Briefing

https://www.silkroadbriefing.com/ne...e-in-chinas-foreign-trade-for-the-first-time/

It's not a matter of if nor of when, it's a readily existing reality.

When one doesn't have the basic facts right, one should refrain from commenting.

So essentially, when Iran's currency lost half of its value recently, going from around 250-270,000 Rial to 500-550,000 Rial or higher, that means that Iranians importers now have to pay twice as many Rials for US Dollars in order to purchase basically anything from anyone. That means that costs will skyrocket, which they have and peoples buying power will only continue to rapidly diminish. This isn't a new phenomenon. This has been happening for decades and the Islamic Republic government has been unable to cease the Rials demise since it's inception.

1) Since the advent of the US empire, opportunities for trade in other currencies have never been more widespread than they are today. Iran can easily cover the bulk of her import needs through non-dollar denominated trade.

Owing to their pro-western leanings, deviationist liberal infiltrators who abusively idealize the supposed developmental virtues of foreign trade, have deliberately used their influence to slow down the transition. But it is inevitable and will keep being enacted more and more as time goes by.

2) A cheap rial implies affordable Iranian-made goods and services for foreign customers. It may make imports more costly but it boosts exports, much to the benefit of the trade balance.

Realistically the government in Iran could try to stabilize the economy by pegging the Rial to Gold, Silver or other commodities. They could have raised the interest rates slightly, they could have banned forex transactions for a short period of time to calm the markets when the Rial was plummeting uncontrollably. However they haven't done anything like that. They haven't taken any decisive action.

Because of the intellectual and political clout enjoyed by liberals, which ended up tainting parts of the principlist camp as well. Liberals who exactly like you swear by foreign trade. Liberals who like you, want Iran to unconditionally return to her initial JCPOA obligations, want Iran to bow to USA demands and dispose of her regional allies and of her missile power, want Iran to stop supporting the anti-zionist Resistance, want Iran to "trade with the west", also happen to be the main obstacles to the implementation of adequate policies for the stabilization of the rial.

And this in turn is due to the fact that these are globalists, hence why their staunch efforts to have consumer prices in Iran aligned on western standards. Given that on top of it, they religiously adhere to the Vienna school of monetarist economics they are opposed to the idea of balancing it out with increased wages for workers and employees.

The exact same types of policies by the way are being advocated by the exiled opposition. Suffice to turn on one of the foreign based "regime change" broadcasters funded by Iran's enemies to find out. In other terms, even in the event that these oppositionists were to replace the Islamic Republic, absolutely nothing would change in terms of price increase for ordinary citizens. Worse, the liberal agenda of de-industrialization and transformation of Iran into a mono-sectorial, oil exporting economy like before the Islamic Revolution would only gain steam (illustrated by Reza Pahlavi's explicit declarations on the topic).

In short, you are visibly unfamiliar with the who's who of the economic debate in Iran, as well as with the composition, the characteristics and respective influence of the different blocs present, not to mention the pretty unbalanced battle that is currently going on for advise to the administration's formulation of economic policies. Therefore, your take isn't informed enough to allow you to pass judgement as to performance of the government in this regard.

This is boringly repetitive on your part though. Your above quoted contention was thoroughly addressed by me at least four to five times, yet you keep rehashing it like a broken record because blanket repetition of empty slogans is a well known psy-ops technique since Paul Joseph Goebbels. But here's the thing, I shall be back to debunk baseless narratives for so long as I'm materially able to.

The government in Iran for whatever reason seems to be unable or unwilling to do anything. Is it incompetence ? corruption ? I don't know, but people in Iran are fed up and the fact of the matter is that this is not sustainable. If the people currently calling the shots are not able to stabilize the economy, they will not be calling the shots for much longer, whether you like it or not. No regime or government can sustain itself indefinitely under such circumstances, especially because the people in Iran know how much potential the country has.

This is the crux of the issue. You don't know, nor do you care to know.

Nice admission, congrats. But definitely not a basis upon which to determine what the ideal course of action ought to be - at least not for rationally thinking persons.

As for the Islamic Republic being headed for collapse due to economic reasons, firstly the Iranian economy is nowhere subject to the sort of structural, all out crisis which oppositionists, their foreign patrons and their propaganda machinery want people to believe; secondly, the "imminent downfall of evil regime" is a hollow mantra incessantly parroted for no less than 44 years by those same hostile entities, to no avail whatsoever. Bottom line, whether it's to your liking or not, no such thing is going to happen.

And that's another issue. With the correct economic policies, Iran's GDP could easily be in the top ten within 5-10 years. This is not hard to prove. Without sanctions, Iran could easily be exporting two to three times as much oil as it is now. Without sanctions, Iran could be generating just as much revenue, if not more from natural gas pipelines & LNG exports, selling to Europe, China, India, Pakistan, basically the entire world. Economists have stated that with the right amount of investment, that Iran's mining industry could be one of the most lucrative in the world. Then there's the tourism. the automotive industry & much more. Realistically a GDP of $2-3 trillion is very feasible within a decade, with the right policies that is. That would put Iran on par with countries like South Korea or Canada.

None of the above would generate a GDP of 3 trillion USD. Also energy resources in particular oil, are considered by economists to be an impediment not an opportunity for development. Refer to the extensive literature on the phenomenon described as Dutch Disease. If Iran were to export two to three times the amount of oil this would expose her economy to strong Dutch Disease dynamics, negatively impacting investment in the non-oil sector. So you can safely subtract a good chunk of Iran's non-oil production from those additional oil incomes.

Moreover GDP onto itself is a vastly overrated measure for development and welfare. In relation to this, your vision of a prosperous Iranian economy is extremely telling onto itself: indeed, it is that of a purely rent-based economy considering the sectors you enumerate - crude oil, crude natural gas, mining and tourism. High value-added and technology-intense goods and services are nonchalantly thrown out the window in this hazardous conception shared by western-leaning oppositionists in exile and in-house liberals alike. It would reverse decades of impressive work by the Islamic Republic to diversify the Iranian economy and achieve upward strides on the production ladder.

What the economic agenda of counter-revolutionaries stands for, is an artificially bloated GDP entirely dependent on outside supplies (preferably from the west) and on fluctuating tarrifs, but no authentic development whatsoever behind it, no domestic R&D, no indigenous technology, no self-sufficiency and thus no derived strength and bargaining power on the international scene. A typical comprador mindset of blatant imperial vassals.

Last but not least, a unified country by the name of Iran will quickly cease to exist if central government authority were to collapse, given the geostrategic context and the resolve of imperial powers-to-be to dismantle the Iranian nation-state at the slightest opportunity.

The mullahs & their supporters, people like you, want Iranians to believe that their policies are the most beneficial for Iran & Iranians, but the facts speak for themselves.

The facts are those I correctly described.

Their policies have completely & utterly failed.

The Islamic Republic's policies have brilliantly succeeded in restoring independence, sovereignty and self-determination to the Iranian nation, on top of developing the country at a sustained pace among the world's top 30 or so in terms of HDI growth, which is better than 85% of all countries worldwide.

No amount of balderdash from oppositionists and their foreign sponsors can change this reality.

By your own admission, 1 in 3 Iranians lives in abject poverty,

This right here is what I call abject poverty:

The plight of innumerable disinherited people whose numbers keep rising with no end in sight, in that dump called Canada which oppositionists and their imperial patrons like to dangle in front of Iranians

but of course you try to brush it off as if it's not significant, as if it's temporary.

Of course it's eminently temporary in nature. Considering that it results from an abrupt, sudden spike induced by a single factor (inflation) for the most part. Not a structural issue. As such, it can and will be corrected just as rapidly, once pro-western liberals are sidelined from economic decision making.

Before Rohani became president, Iran's poverty rate was of 18,8% i.e. over 11 percentage points lower.

This while the economy is in ruins &

No it's not.

the currency is completely worthless.

A single indicator does not make a ruined economy nor does it say much about the whole picture.

Meanwhile, Iran's debt levels are top notch, the foreign trade balance and balance of payments are satisfactory, unemployment not really high, and so on and so forth.

Realistically this is not temporary, this economic decline has been going on for decades & will continue as long as the same failed policies remain in place.

There is no economic decline. The Iranian economy is set to grow this year and the upcoming ones. Your contentions aren't realistic in the least.

 

[drmeson]

Can we move the focus of discussion back to IRIAF ?

 

[drmeson]

The most complete explanation and history I have read about IRIAF.. Kowsar ll must be prsued into full mass production...thank you drmeson .

Yes indeed, a light fighter with 4+-4.5 Generation avionics.

Ps: kowsar I with FBW made my day....lol..this experience will be crucial in Iran's 75 and 150 seat Regional Jets.

Key-Aero mentions it in detail about the computerized actuation of control surfaces.

 

[HGV]

I can't agree or disagree with that but what I have read is that there were a group of IRIAF officers from the Iraq war who fell in love with F-5E/F because of its performance during the war. It shot down Mig-25RB/PD, MIG-21MF/BIS, and SU-22/20 and just was never shot itself at the BVR range despite the fact there were a number of reports of MIG-25PD or MIG-23ML shooting their R-40, R-23 BVR missiles at it but none hit because of low RCS airframe. Its driven F/A-18 and F-18EF are documented by the US navy to have 1-2 m^2 RCS. It also took part in bombing or diversion-causing invasions into enemy territory such as during the attack on H-3 and was again never easy to catch. As underpowered it is, it can reach 0.9 Mach at low levels without afterburners.

So when these pilots and battle planners gained bigger ranks laterwards in IRIAF they started focusing on domestic production of a local F-5E/F variant. One of these guys was Mansour Sattari who was the IRIAF Commander in mid 1990s. His plan was to follow the Shahi era blue prints of F/A-18 domestic production and develop a local fighter having an airframe of F-5E/F with RD-33 turbofan with N019 radar with R-27/R-73 package. He died on duty and Russia backed out of MIG-29+MIG-31 deals with IRIAF which were signed by Rafsanjani and Yeltsin.
So the project went to CATIC of China under the title "Silk Route II" in which the avionics package of the most modern J7E were to be installed on F-5E/F with some 30-40 % locally built airframe. That plane became Azarakhsh (the green one) with stupid Sy-80 radar and PL-7C missiles. IRIAF was not happy with it at all because they abhorred F-7 already. So it never went into production.

The next plan was to make the plane even more modernized with a Western-origin avionics package. At that time Chinese NRIET which is part of CATIC China somehow started copying LEONARDO GRIFO radars of Italian origin. Some people including me believe that Italians sold their designs to CATIC for hefty prices because they would not want to sell anything to rogue nations directly. Grifo-S7 became NRIET KLJ-7 (FC-1/JF-17), Grifo-E became KLJ-7A AESA (J-31) and GRIFO-346 became SAIRAN (Iran) Bayyenat-II on Kowsar-I (Chinese designation is KLJ-6F probably???). The design is exact replica including the number and layout of T/R modules. It's quite a modern system with a Detection/Track range of 120/94 KM for 1m2 RCS target. It has look down shoot down capability and SAR of 1m2 (better than SU-35S's IRBIS), and has an internal ECM package. It's currently being used by M-346 and at one point was even considered for YAK-131. Technically it can track even a F-18EF at around 100 KM and fire a salvo of R-77AE/PL-12/PL-15 at it.

Because of sanctions on Iran during Ahmadinejad era, Chinese left and HESA was contracted by IRIAF to carry on the Silk Route II Project. They made some radical changes to the design such as the plan changed to the point that F-5E/F basic airframe will be modified with twin stabilizers and the airintakes will be squared up to gain high AOA and they will be under the wings and locally produced OWJ turbojets will be installed on the plane. According to the extremely detailed work published in key.aero every prototype had an increasing % of locally built airframes like Saeghe-II in 2015 was upto 70 % locally built.

The plan failed because (A) IRIAF had no money to supply to HESA for further work (B) The OWJ Turbojets were not powerful enough to extract fast pitch/yaw/roll for which the airframe was modified. Russia only supplied ~50 RD-33 in early 2000s which went to MIG-29 9.12 fleet despite the fact that order was for 250 RD-33 to be used on Shafagh and Saeghe-I/II. So Saegheh-I/II project got bundled up in 2016-2017 but somehow through lobbyism it was "inducted" into service at Tabriz TAB-2. HESA moved to Kowsar-I which is a mixture of few 100% locally built airframes while others use some % of local parts. According to BT the plane that was shown during its unveiling was almost 100% domestically built, was a bit larger the F-5F, it had a totally different internal structural layout (can be seen) to accommodate heavy avionics equipment. It has a modern radar (mentioned above)+ECM, Double Duplex Datalink to send and receive track-info with UCAVs/GWACS/other fighters which was confirmed by HESA-head himself. The avionics architecture consists of 4 x system computers for Weapons, Mission, and Flight management, and there is also a Ballistic Computer similar to SU-24/34 SVP-24 for precision ground strikes. Something surprising was the use of local FBW for the actuation of control surfaces. The plane turned to be quite modern for Iranian capabilities but its underpowered. You can not take on an EF-2000 or Rafale while climbing at 34000 ft/min. F-5E/F can almost supercruise on J-85II/OWJ and reach 0.9Mach without burners so at low speed or altitude the turbojets can do fine but to defend airspace against invasion you need fast climb and high acceleration which can only come from a AL-31F like a monster. Also it has no BVR missile to use. It can technically easily integrate PL-12/15 or R-77AE but they have not landed in Iran yet. Dowran F-4E/D's were supposed to recieve PL-12 but we have never seen them in pics so no evidence exists while as long as SU-35S does not land in Iran R-77AE is beyond Iranian reach as well.

Interesting, thanks for sharing

If I understood correctly, the two remaining obstacles are: BVR AAM and more powerful jet engines

 

[drmeson]

Interesting, thanks for sharing

If I understood correctly, the two remaining obstacles are: BVR AAM and more powerful jet engines

Both are very solvable

BVR

Option 1: Get extra numbers of R-77AE, like upto 1000. They will come with SU-35S anyways. If its ARH seeker can take clue from SAIRAN's Fire Control Radars on F-4E/D and Kowsar then thats the solution. A 2 x R-77AE-armed Kowsar-I can track an F-16D at ~94 KM and shoot 2 x R-77AE at it from 80 KM. Not great but decent.

Option 2: They showed a local AIM-7E2 replica a year ago. If the project is real then it can be a local ARH missile local motor that can fly it to 70 KM. Fakour-90's local production is a proof Iran is well capable of doing this.

Powerplant

Option 1: Procure AL-31F/RD-33MK with TOT from Russia, use small CFT on Kowsar for range.
Option 2: Work harder on local Turbofan (long shot)

 

[drmeson]

Interesting poster showing SU-35S (middle), Kowsar, F-4E/D inside underground Oghab-44 AB.

 

[tsunset]

Interesting poster showing SU-35S (middle), Kowsar, F-4E/D inside underground Oghab-44 AB.

never noticed that

 

[drmeson]

never noticed that

Yeah, it seems Oghab-44 will receive Su-35S and Kowsar-I/II in the future. Its not that large to host all three types simultaneously so either we will see mixed squadrons or F-4E/D will have to leave. Su-35S are too valuable to be left vulnerable on surface.

 

[Hack-Hook]

Yeah, it seems Oghab-44 will receive Su-35S and Kowsar-I/II in the future. Its not that large to host all three types simultaneously so either we will see mixed squadrons or F-4E/D will have to leave. Su-35S are too valuable to be left vulnerable on surface.

these type of bases are for strike aircraft not fighters , fighters need rapid deployment and these underground bases are not suited for that

 

[TheImmortal]

these type of bases are for strike aircraft not fighters , fighters need rapid deployment and these underground bases are not suited for that

False

 

[tsunset]

these type of bases are for strike aircraft not fighters , fighters need rapid deployment and these underground bases are not suited for that

So what is suited for fighters?

 

[drmeson]

these type of bases are for strike aircraft not fighters , fighters need rapid deployment and these underground bases are not suited for that

I guess Su-35S can be termed as a strike fighter considering its superb multirole capability. If IRIAF integrates long-range AShCM (Abu Mehdi, Ghader etc) or LACM to SU-35S then there will be no need to waste money on F-4E/D or SU-24 anymore. Although the "overhaul" mafia in IRIAF would not let these Shahi relics go easily. Even depot-level maintenance means $$ for these groups.

Also, fully armed (hypothetical BVR carrier) Kowsars can pop out and surprise the enemy from a distance. The best case scenario will be that there will be such bases hosting mixed squadrons of SU-35S + Kowsar-I (or II in future) who can pop out and join Gashtzan F-14AM and Loyal Wingmen (Armed Karrar or Shaheds)

 

[HGV]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1662512178845319169