Bagheri's grievances are legitimate here.
Interestingly it was Bagheri himself who initiated the SU-35S talk in October 2021 as per BT now he is against the deal because of Russian political maneuvering to use the deal as a bargaining chip. Atleast it tells us Bagheri is serious for IRIAF.
This makes me want to scream even more "Khob madar jendehaa, khavar margeton raanesh boomie khoob besaaz, pool kharj kon va natijeh bebin!!!!" Pour resources into a good domestic turbofan and it would have happened by now.
I have a feeling that IRIAF will rise from its ashes because
- Force is weakest among others in Iran and is often humiliated for lagging behind
- S-300 refusal from Russia resulted in Iran putting up a national drive to develop state-of-the-art layered IADS that we have today. No Bavar-373, no Sevom Khordad, no dozens of 3D PESA/AESA radars would have been made had Russia delivered S-300 on its time. It did not and we went our own way. Same way IRIAF can be rebuilt in vengeance because of the vendor's treachery.
- Ingredients are there or slowly they are being made
Local operationalized capabilities
Largest and most diverse UCAV fleets in the world
Heavy BVR (150+ KM)
WVR (CCD, All aspects)
Land attack/AntiShipping Air launched CM (Nasr, Ghader, Noor, Ya-Ali)
Range of local PGMs
Two types of Local PESA Radars (Bayyenat-I on Dowran and Bayyenat-II on Kowsar)
FBW (Kowsar)
RWR, MAWS, Jammers, ECM pods
Tactical Datalink in operation (Kowsar, SU-22M3/M4)
Radios, TACAN, INS, GPS
Aviation Computers (Flight, Air, Weapons) in operation
Ballistic Computers for targetting of Iron Bombs
Entire New Cockpit layouts with multiple MFDs
Local Turbojets in operation (Owj)
Local Turbofan Single Crystal (Mid-tier thrust) demonstrated (Jahesh-700)
Proven capability to build an entire airframe of F-5E/F from Scratch (Some Kowsars)
Sarir Ejection Seats
Local In-development capabilities
Light BVR in development (AIM-7-based ARH Arash)
HMD in development or deployed
Heavy Turbofan ambitions shown (AL-31)
HOTAS
If IRIAF plays its cards right, we are on verge of having a breakthrough.
There is so much corruption in IRIAF in various projects you mentioned earlier that only IRGCAF will be operational in the future...
In the last three decades of IRIAF history post-war, did we ever have a visionary chief who had real projects and had access to leadership directly? I can name Sattari (Azarakhsh, Saeqeh) and Shahsafi (Fattar, Fakour, IrAN-140, Kowsar, Dowran upgrades) but the rest were just doing their jobs or were promoted because of their loyalty and character. Vahedi is no different, a weak, yes-man character. I can write an entire essay on stupid decisions that were made from wasting money on F-7N, MF1, F-5 to botching up local projects like Saegheh/Kowsar.
Compare IRIAF clowns to IRGC or even IRIN. IRGC can massacre enemies on its own and force came into being some 4 decades ago out of students. IRIAF/IIAF exists for a century and is now run by clowns.