The War in Ukraine: Iran's Airlift to Russia

Sineva · Jul 14, 2022

Heres part of a very interesting article on irans airlift to russia during the ukraine-russia war.

You can find the whole thing here
https://gerjon.substack.com/p/the-war-in-ukraine-irans-airlift

The War in Ukraine: Iran's Airlift to Russia

Last updated 13 Jul 2022. New total: 40 flights. Original total (24 Feb - 24 May 2022) was 23 flights.

In the first months of 2022, dozens of western civilian and military cargo aircraft delivered aid for Ukraine to Ukrainian airports. However, it‘s not just Ukraine that is receiving uncommon foreign cargo flights: Russia is too. In the months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least 40 Iranian cargo flights flew from Iran to Moscow. In this blog post, I will first shortly summarize the Western Airlift to Ukraine. Afterwards, I will show how three cargo aircraft from Iran regularly visit airports around Moscow. I will also provide further background information about these aircraft and provide visual evidence for their visits.

40 Iranian cargo flights to Moscow

An overview of flight tracks of three Iranian cargo aircraft (EP-FAA, EP-PUS, EP-ICD) in the three months following the invasion of Ukraine (24 Feb 2022 - 24 May 2022). In the period since, more flights have taken place.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 Feb 2022, I have found a total of 40 Iranian cargo flights into Russia, all of which went to Moscow. The following flights to Moscow were identified, listed in chronological order:

This list was generated by combining Flightradar24 and ADSBexchange data, the latter accessed through the Icarus Flights platform. For each flight I have added added a link to the specific flight on ADSBexchange. This list was originally made on 24 May 2022 and later updated on 13 Jul 2022.

All flights by “Pouya Air” EP-PUS went to Moscow Vnukovo Airport (VKO/UUWW), located west of Moscow. “Qeshm Fars Air” EP-FAA generally visits Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO/UUEE), located north of the city. However, at least one flight by “Qeshm Fars Air” EP-FAA (15 May 2022) seems to have gone to Vnukovo Airport instead. On 02 Jul 2022, “Qeshm Fars Air” EP-FAA visited Moscow Zhukovsky Airport (ZIA/UUBW). Like EP-FAA, also “Iran Air Cargo” EP-ICD flights visits Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport.

Because of MLAT tracking, it is not always clear which where these flights to Moscow come from or head to. One “Iran Air Cargo” flight (08 May 2022) clearly visited Yerevan in Armenia before continuing to Russia. Two “Qeshm Fars Air” flights (22 Apr 2022 and 20 May 2022, both using full ADS-B) came from Imam Khomeini Airport (IKA/OIIE) near Tehran. For the other flights, flight origin remains uncertain.

Given that Tehran is the home base of the aircraft, looking at available MLAT positions and knowing that Iranian cargo flights to Moscow tend to fly north out of Iran, across the Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan, turning west to Moscow when reaching the Russian border, it becomes clear that the flights most likely came from Iran. Tehran seems the most logical candidate.

One may wonder whether these flights are anything out of the ordinary. This raises the question: how often did these Iranian cargo aircraft visit Moscow in previous years? To get a quick overview of an aircraft’s whereabouts, I used Icarus Flights, a platform developed by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS) that uses ADSBexchange aircraft tracking data. “Qeshm Fars Air” aircraft (EP-FAA and EP-FAB) were tracked visiting Moscow twice in 2021. Over the same period, “Pouya Air” aircraft visited Moscow once. “Iran Air Cargo” was not tracked visiting Moscow in 2021. This confirms that the 40 flights following the invasion are a clear increase compared to normal.

Beyond cargo aircraft, also Iranian passenger aircraft have been visiting Moscow. For example, a “Mahan Air” Boeing 747-400 passenger aircraft (EP-MEE) visited Moscow Vnukovo Airport on 17 May 2022. According to the description, this was an uncommon visit. Because some other flights may be regular flights that also took place before the war, I have chosen not to include further Iranian passenger flights in this post.

EP-MEE spotted at Moscow Vnukovo Airport, 17 May 2022. Picture by artyom_kuzhlev on Instagram.

Visual evidence

Because of long-term western sanctions against Iran, Iranian cargo aircraft are generally old and rare models. Therefore they are high on the wishlist of planespotters around the globe. As a result, cameras follow them wherever they go, making it relatively easy to find pictures of them. All three aircraft (EP-FAA, EP-PUS and EP-ICD) were regularly spotted by planespotters at Moscow Sheremetyevo and Moscow Vnukovo Airport over the past months. Some examples are shown below.

Twitter avatar for @Gerjon_

Gerjon | חריון | غريون | ኼርዮን @Gerjon_
Nikita Arsyukov's Instagram picture shows IRGC-affiliated, OFAC-sanctioned Qeshm Fars Air Boeing 747-200

EP-FAA on ground at

Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, posted 28 Apr.

Iran is said to have been supplying

Russia with weaponry in recent weeks. instagram.com/p/Cc5orCYszsG/

Gerjon | חריון | غريون | ኼርዮን @Gerjon_
Update: I had missed that fellow Iranian cargo aircraft "Qeshm Fars Air"

EP-FAA has been visiting

Moscow too, on 15 and 20 Apr 2022. Both airlines have been linked to IRGC activity and are thus sanctioned by

OFAC. https://t.co/kPLvqWFMDN https://t.co/UX8E6wkV3v
May 1st 2022
12 Retweets27 Likes
Twitter avatar for @Gerjon_

Gerjon | חריון | غريون | ኼርዮን @Gerjon_
More visual evidence for Iran's "Pouya Air" Ilyushin Il-76TD reg.

EP-PUS visiting

Moscow, Russia. This aircraft may be delivering military aid to

Russia. #1: aleksey_nsk24, 24 May 2022 #2-4: snphotos_avia, 23 May 2022 (I've got a blog post about these coming up!)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd7MoZ3Ih2Y/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd51GxgsXmX/

Gerjon | חריון | غريون | ኼርዮን @Gerjon_

Iranian, IRGC-affiliated cargo aircraft continue to visit

Moscow. This morning around 06:45 UTC, another shipment arrived to

Vnukovo Airport. Some people say these flights deliver military aid to the country that invaded Ukraine. "Pouya Air" Ilyushin Il-76TD reg.

EP-PUS https://t.co/1WFK2ydW44 https://t.co/qISGtN5asU
May 26th 2022

EP-ICD spotted at Moscow Sheremetyevo, 08 May 2022. Picture by garikwings on Instagram

EP-ICD spotted at Moscow Sheremetyevo, undated (uploaded 25 May 2022). Picture by batonov_anton on Instagram.

EP-FAA spotted at Moscow Sheremetyevo, 28 Apr 2022. Picture by garikwings on Instagram

EP-PUS spotted at Moscow Vnukovo, 20 Apr 2022. Picture by garikwings on Instagram

EP-FAA spotted at Moscow Zhukovsky, 02 Jul 2022. Picture by ziacargo on Instagram

Conclusions

In the months following the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, at least 40 Iranian cargo aircraft have landed at airports around Moscow, Russia: Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky. These flights have been regularly spotted by aircraft enthusiasts around Moscow, and their routes can be verified using aircraft tracking websites such as Flightradar24, ADSBexchange and Icarus Flights.

These 40 flights are a clear increase compared to 2021, suggesting that they are not carrying everyday Iranian or Russian exports. The timing of these flights could indicate that they are related to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Needless to say, I will be keeping a close eye on these flights in the upcoming weeks and may come with a follow-up if Iranian flights to Moscow continue.

Update 13 Jul 2022: 17 more flights were added since 24 May 2022, to a total of 40 flights.

drmeson · Jul 14, 2022

I hope these guys are being transfered to Russia

But 40 flights is too much. What is being transfered ?

Raghfarm007 · Jul 14, 2022

Russians love Iranian Pestacheues, and urgently need tons of these Iranian nutts delivered by air cargo directly to their door steps.

Only logical conclusion....

Sapei · Jul 14, 2022

Good for Iran but damn russia is a joke

sha ah · Jul 14, 2022

Not really. Ukraine is being supplied and supported by NATO, the most powerful military alliance in the world. The Russians have some decent models of UAVs, but the only drone they have ever mass produced is the Orlon-10, which is a cheap reconnaissance drone, and after months of fighting their stocks are depleted. The sanctions have likely also thrown a wrench in any attempts to mass produce their own UAVs.

Iran on the other hand has been under sanctions for years and Iran has seized half a dozen advanced American drones over the years, which were then reverse engineered. Also Iran's military has been striving for self sufficiency for years. So the Iranian military industrial complex can mass produce cutting edge, cost effective UAVs despite sanctions.

The entire process, from sourcing raw materials and components to the assembly lines are all sanctions proof. The Russians are now wishing that they would have more heavily invested in their UAV industry. The most recent conflicts in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Syria, Yemen, should have been a wake up call.

However it seems that due to a combination of bad intelligence and sheer hubris, they greatly underestimated the Ukrainians and overestimated their own capabilities. They initially launched their offensive on a 1400 km front in multiple directions. That's as wide as the German front against the USSR during WW2 at its peak and the Germans had millions of soldiers and remember the Germans were only heading in one direction. Anyways, with help from NATO, the Ukrainians had 7 years to prepare. They're also receiving vital intel from NATO, which is greatly helping their cause.

Sapei said:
Good for Iran but damn russia is a joke

drmeson · Jul 14, 2022

Youthia Defence Forum said:
Fake defence forum!!!! Spreading Fake propaganda

Twitter suspends defence.pk account for photoshopped image of Indian student
Twitter suspended verified account of "Pakistan Defence" [@defence.pk] reportedly over a complain filed by an Indian student from New Delhi whose photograph had been misused by the handle.

Twitter suspends defence.pk account for photoshopped image of Indian student | The Express Tribune

Defence.pk administrator denies knowing the photograph used was photoshopped

tribune.com.pk

The account of @Horus who allegedly administers the Twitter account for defence.pk was also suspended.

https://twitter.com/x/status/931916645295116289

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547475691930730496

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547475293543182336

Woooh.

Can' t the admin of this site complain to Twitter ?

Muhammed45 · Jul 14, 2022

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

We have received Russian military hardware too.

aryobarzan · Jul 14, 2022

Muhammed45 said:
A friend in need is a friend indeed.

We have received Russian military hardware too.

The world is moving towards military groupings of nations against each other...I hope this military cooperation with Russia will lead into some sort of Formal mutual military alliance .

drmeson · Jul 14, 2022

aryobarzan said:
The world is moving towards military groupings of nations against each other...I hope this military cooperation with Russia will lead into some sort of Formal mutual military alliance .

According to some western authors its already happening for several years. They saw massive inter operability between Russians and Iranians in Syria. An alliance of Iran, Russia, Syria, Iraq, and Hezbollah has naturally emerged in this region with the growing US-Israel-Saudi cooperation.

Stryker1982 · Jul 15, 2022

So the flights dropped off after May 24th? Or it just needs an update?.

Perhaps they've had these drones all this time and have been in the training phase for sometime now.

Edit: Nevermind more flights were made.

That's alot of flights, 40 IL-76 flights could carry a decent amount of cargo.

kingQamaR · Jul 15, 2022

Muhammed45 said:
A friend in need is a friend indeed.

We have received Russian military hardware too.

It means when someone needs something from you, like a favor or a loan, they suddenly become your really good friend. Possibly backing off once they have gotten what they needed from you

Hack-Hook · Jul 15, 2022

kingQamaR said:
It means when someone needs something from you, like a favor or a loan, they suddenly become your really good friend. Possibly backing off once they have gotten what they needed from you

No it means your true friends won't abandon you in time of need

Sineva · Jul 15, 2022

ahaider97 said:
I saw a pic of Russian SOF with Hezbollah patch, I think it was during the last Syrian offensive in Idlib. So we can assume that IRGC also fought together with Russian SOF.

Its funny,but I can also remember US SOF wearing YPG patches,tho` as one would expect the turks took a fit and the us then said that it was inappropriate for its forces to wear these patches.

Muhammed45 · Jul 15, 2022

kingQamaR said:
It means when someone needs something from you, like a favor or a loan, they suddenly become your really good friend. Possibly backing off once they have gotten what they needed from you

Nope, this co-op didn't start with war of Ukraine and won't stop there. That's the point.

What you said is completely true in case of western powers the colonial powers hiding behind fake claims of democracy and freedom. They will abandon you the moment they don't need you. Ukrainians are realizing this bitter reality.

kingQamaR · Jul 15, 2022

Muhammed45 said:
Nope, this co-op didn't start with war of Ukraine and won't stop there. That's the point.

What you said is completely true in case of western powers the colonial powers hiding behind fake claims of democracy and freedom. They will abandon you the moment they don't need you. Ukrainians are realizing this bitter reality.

Obviously not.

Russia signed a treaty promising to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and not to invade them.

And what do they do,

Invade Ukraine for no reason.

Who would trust a lying and evil government like this

The War in Ukraine: Iran's Airlift to Russia

SENIOR MEMBER

40 Iranian cargo flights to Moscow​

Visual evidence​

Conclusions​

SENIOR MEMBER

FULL MEMBER

FULL MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

Fake defence forum!!!! Spreading Fake propaganda​

​

Twitter suspends defence.pk account for photoshopped image of Indian student​

ELITE MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

ELITE MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

ELITE MEMBER

SENIOR MEMBER

Similar threads

40 Iranian cargo flights to Moscow

Visual evidence

Conclusions

Fake defence forum!!!! Spreading Fake propaganda

Twitter suspends defence.pk account for photoshopped image of Indian student