“The agreement is concluded,” General Mahdi Farahi, Iran’s deputy defense minister, announced to the Iranian Tasnim news agency. This is not just any contract. These are the Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E, Mil Mi-28 attack helicopters and the Yak-130 training aircraft, without detailing the quantity, the amount of this agreement or the delivery date.
This contract has been under discussion for more than a year. As for the Sukhoi, these would be 24 aircraft ordered in 2018 by Egypt which, in 2021, finally preferred to be re-equipped with 30 Rafale. Did Tehran sign the entire canceled order or only part? As for the amount, it could actually be an exchange for kamikaze drones, as revealed by Western intelligence services in 2022. This exchange would allow the Russians to intensify attacks in Ukraine and the Iranians to prepare for a possible regional conflict.
An obsolete air fleet
The delivery of the first Sukhoi would be imminent, according to Shahriar Heidari, a member of the parliamentary national security committee, who stated in January that they will be delivered “next Iranian year, which begins on March 21.” This claim detected by Air&Cosmos has never been officially confirmed.
With Russia, the Iranian Air Force will take a giant leap forward. Currently it only has old and almost obsolete equipment, with only a few dozen attack aircraft. This fleet is made up of Russian aircraft, but also of American aircraft acquired before the Islamic revolution of 1979. Since then, Iran has not acquired any new combat aircraft, except for some MiG-29 Fulcrum acquired in the 1990s, the agency specifies. Tasnim. .
Russia presents the Su-35 as a rival to the American F-35. It is a multipurpose fighter designed for air combat and ground attacks. The Mi-28 attack helicopter is specialized in anti-tank combat. It would be heavier and larger than the American AH-34 Apache that would have inspired its designers. The Yak-130 would be an even more strategic contract. This two-seat training aircraft is intended, according to Tasnim, to train Iranians to fly fourth and fifth generation fighter jets, such as the Sukhoi Su-57.
Source: BFM TV
