The Iran Deal Will Help Russia Have A Stealth Air Force

The Iran Deal Will Help Russia Have A Stealth Air Force

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Fighter-Aircraft-F-4-Phantom-IiThe Iran deal will boost Russia’s arms industry and make it possible for Russia to replace its older aircraft with newer stealth models. Thanks to the deal approved by the U.S., the allies and by Russia, the arms embargo on Iran will “officially” be lifted in 5 years. But the rush to sell arms to Iran has been on for some time and defense companies from Europe along with the Russians, Chinese and North Koreans have been flocking to Tehran offering their wares.

According to IDRW.ORG , the biggest single need for Iran is fighter and bomber aircraft. There have been many reports that iran has already made deals with China and Russia, but the big deals are still ahead of us. That’s because until now Iran did not have the cash. The nuclear deal is pouring cash into Iran most of which will be spent on arms.

Iran’s Air Force is dilapidated. It has old F-4 Phantom Jets (64, the number in service not known), F-14’s (44 out of 80 remain in service) and F-5’s (60 out of 140 operational) from the United States. Iran has 30 MIG-29A’s of which 24 are in service and 24 Mirage F1’s that were evacuated from Iraq and never returned. Iran has some 20 Sukhoi-24 bombers and some Sukhoi Su-25’s both of which were formerly Iraqi aircraft. Reportedly Iran sent 7 of the Su-25’s back to Iran to use against ISIS. Iran also has around 20 Chinese F-7M fighters it bought in the 1980s.

None of the aircraft in Iran’s inventory can stand up to US made F-15’s and F-16’s let alone deal with the F-22 or the forthcoming F-35. For Iran to claim regional power it must upgrade its air force radically. Most of all, to stay abreast it needs a genuine stealth fighter bomber.

That is why the lifting of the arms embargo is fortuitous for Iran since it allows the Russians to offer their new Sukhoi PAK FA T-50 stealth fighter bomber. The T-50 is a fifth generation air superiority and attack aircraft that uses stealth technology, has a supercruise capability and is regarded as far more maneuvreable than the F-22 or the F-35. In fact, the PAK FA T-50 is the Russian Air Force answer to the F-22.

The F-50 is not yet in production. There are many problems on the Russian side, but the biggest one is lack of cash.