Recently, Russia and Iran, North Korea, two countries that are not treated by the United States, have been very close, especially Iran, it is rumored that Iran and Russia ordered Su-35S fighters earlier, but recently they have repented, not only canceled all the Su-35S fighters previously ordered from Russia, but also did not want the Su-30SM fighters behind.
For Iran's destruction of orders, many people believe that it is due to Russia's domestic policy problems, affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, several major aircraft factories in Russia are giving priority to the delivery of fighter jets to the Russian-Ukrainian front-line soldiers, and the foreign purchase contract is put aside first, and the factory is now unable to stop for a moment.
So is it really because Russia ignored Iran's orders in order to cope with the war on the front that the Iranian side canceled the contract, or is there something else hidden?
There are many opinions on this, but it is clear from various sources that this result may be multifaceted, the most important of which is Russia's recent statement on the territorial dispute between the UAE and Iran, which Iran is very unhappy with.
Another theory is that Iran has an additional requirement for purchasing Su-35S fighters, which is to hope that Russia can teach them by hand, so that Iran has the ability to maintain Su-35S fighters on its own, and even Iran hopes that Russia can help it set up a Su-35 production line, so that Iran can produce localized Su-35S on its own in the future.
This is just like at the beginning of this century, when China introduced the Su-27SK for domestic assembly, the fighter was supplied by Sukhoi, and the assembly of the Su-27SK was all completed in China, and China that got the production license named the Su-27SK J-11A fighters.
If this news is true, then the Iranians are clearly trying to get Russia to help them build a modern fighter line, or even several lines, which Iran desperately needs today, because its air force is so old. If Iran can obtain the Su-35 production line, it will enable Iran's aviation industry to gain technical experience in the design and manufacture of advanced fighters, gradually learn and absorb advanced aviation technology, and improve its own fighter design and production capacity.
Following the old path of China's air force development, the Iranian Air Force will no longer be completely dependent on imports in the future, which will also greatly enhance Iran's independent capabilities in the aviation and military fields, reduce dependence on external forces, improve the sustainability of military equipment, and let others seize their own handles as little as possible.
In fact, in this business, the Russian side is not impossible to discuss, but the problem is that the price code given by the Iranian side is actually limited, it stands to reason that Iran is a major oil country in the Middle East, even if it has been sanctioned by the West led by the United States for decades, but it will not be impossible to give Russia the price code it wants.
From 1992 to 2006 alone, China spent $26.2 billion to purchase advanced Russian equipment, which is a proper Russian major customer.
The purchase of the Su-27SK production line accounts for a large part of the more than 200 million yuan, and if Iran wants to rely on the purchase cost of importing more than 20 Su-35S plus the introduction of the production line, it is actually whimsical, and Russia will not be able to agree to such a low price from Iran even if it is poor.
Another reason is that the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, and Russia's aviation and air production capacity is temporarily focused on supply and demand for this conflict, and it is impossible to supply fighter jets to Iran immediately.
The Iranian side must also have some concerns, and the conflict does not show the slightest sign of stopping, and the arrival of this batch of Su-35s is likely to be an indefinite affair. After comprehensive consideration of the situation, Iran canceled the relevant agreement to order the purchase of Su-35S and Su-30SM fighters.
However, the current situation of the Iranian Air Force dooms its air force fleet to the point where it has to be refitted, and the main fighters are still at the level of the eighties of the last century, and tend to be heavy fighters, and the F-14A heavy carrier-based fighters purchased during the Pahlavi dynasty are regarded as the absolute main force of the troops, and these fighters have been forty years ago and have long reached the age of retirement.
The earliest version of this batch of F-14A has gradually aged in the course of more than 40 years of use, and is basically about to be scrapped, even if the Iranian Air Force is reluctant, it has to admit the fact that this batch of F-14s is about to be retired from active service, and it must purchase new fighters to replace them, otherwise, Iran's air force will not have any victory in the face of various neighboring countries.
We usually think that in this case it is necessary to assess the situation, but Iran is very picky about the successor to the E-14A, as if there are many options. With the current technology of Iran's aviation industry, it simply does not have the ability to develop a fourth-generation or fourth-and-a-half-generation advanced fighter, so it can only buy from abroad.
But foreign countries that have the ability to develop heavy fighter jets do not have much choice, in addition to Russia, which has no time to take into account the procurement contracts of other countries in response to conflicts, the second option is the mysterious power in the East, that's right, it is our country, our country is the only country other than Russia that dares and has the ability to give Iran the first heavy advanced fighter jet.
Judging from the current situation, if Iran really cancels the deal with Russian fighters, it is also a very good choice to choose our country to order fighter jets, China has developed a lot of advanced performance in the development of national defense in the past ten years, which can fully meet the needs of Iran, for example, the J-10C fighter is fully capable of the operational needs of the Iranian Air Force.
But due to the habit of using heavy fighters for decades, the Iranian Air Force is only keen to procure heavy fighters. However, at present, China does not have the best heavy fighter model, China's Air Force current J-11 fighter series due to the introduction of the production line when there was an agreement with Russia, the follow-up model of this product can only be used without the consent of Russia, can not be exported.
In addition, there are J-16 fighters that have only begun to be equipped with small quantities in recent years, although this fighter is also a deep development model of the Su-27 series, but it has no export restrictions, and it is also the best and most advanced fourth-generation semi-heavy fighter in the world, and it is also in line with the Iranians' obsession with heavy fighters, in terms of performance, it is more advanced than Russia's Su-35 basic version and Su-30ms, whether it is air combat capability or ground strike capability, this fighter can be said to have no competitors in the Persian Gulf.
However, as an advanced fighter, the J-16 has been in service for too short, but only a few years, and it belongs to the advanced equipment of our Air Force, and there is no specific export model so far. At this stage, China may not plan to export the J-16 at all, so even if the Iranian Air Force sees the J-16, we may not sell it for the time being.
But if the Iranian Air Force non-heavy fighter is not selected, perhaps our country can open a new idea, in addition to the above two heavy fighters, China also has an active heavy fighter, which is also the development of the Su-27 series, it is the main carrier-based aircraft J-15 in the Air Force, which is also possible.
Why do you say that, on the one hand, J-15 is a product developed in depth by introducing the Ukrainian Su-33 carrier-based fighter as a prototype after thorough research and understanding of its technology, which is also a brand-new fighter, and the service time is not long, and more importantly, it does not have the problem of requiring Russian consent to export like J-11.
J-15 and J-11 are the same heavy fighters, although they are inferior to J-16 in performance, but they have fully met the needs of the Iranian Air Force, looking at the Persian Gulf, its performance is enough to make Iran an upstart in the Persian Gulf. It can be said that if the J-15 can be successfully exported, it seems that Iran will also be a good choice to complete the export debut of China's heavy fighters.
But recently it has been effective, after the Iranian Air Force canceled the Su-35S and Su-30SM orders, it has obtained the first batch of Russian Yak-130 light combat trainers, and Iran will not seek an advanced heavy fighter in the short term, let's wait and see!