Because of the Iranian nuclear issue, an international arms embargo was imposed on Iran. However, this embargo agreement reached in 2015 will soon expire. In other words, Iran’s international arms embargo is close to expiration.
And now, Iran urgently needs to replace its main main battle weapon platform, it is too old. In terms of the army, Iran has also acquired some T-72A and T-72M tanks from Poland, Belarus and other countries, but the reverse engineering imitation in the early years was not successful.
It is precisely because of the poor outsourcing channels of Iranian tanks that Iran’s attitude towards these old Western tanks is really a broomstick. Even last year, they even pulled out the M47 tank that had already been transferred to inventory, re-modernized it, fitted it with 105mm guns and reactive armor, and prepared to fight for another ten years. Iran’s self-developed "Zolfikar" tank is really... anyway, it finally disappeared.
The Iranian Air Force has about 500 fighters. Only the American-made F-14 Tomcat fighters imported 40 years ago are relatively powerful. The others are all made in the world. There are a few of them. What, Su-22 fighter-bomber, Su-24 fighter-bomber, J-7 fighter, early version of MiG-29, MiG-21 fighter, and F-4 ghost and F- Five Tiger fighters, and even the Mirage F-1 fighters that fled from Iraq.
According to the analysis of the American "Flight International" magazine, the Iranian Air Force is currently truly available, capable of being on duty, and the number of fighters flying into the air at any time does not exceed 160. The reason is simple, because these fighters are all products that have long been discontinued. There is no supply of spare parts at all, and the matching missiles are all kinds of old models from decades ago.
Looking around Iran again, the Israeli F-35 stealth fighters have already been combated, and Iraq has 48 F-16 fighters. The Turkish Air Force is also F-16, and it is expected to order nearly one hundred Su 57 stealth fighters. The main force of the Saudi Air Force is the new version of the F-15 fighter, and there are various advanced fighters on the surrounding US military bases and US aircraft carriers.
The Iranian Air Force is too backward. So, what kind of fighter does Iran need? Iran's real main force, the main strike force is ballistic missiles, long-range rocket launchers and missile boats, these three weapons. However, these three types of weapons all need fighters to provide protection, that is, air superior fighters provide air dominance protection.
is otherwise the dish of Israeli warplanes. In the past two years, Israel has conducted more than 200 air strikes on Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq. Is this lesson not profound enough? It is because the Iranian Air Force is too weak that this passive situation is created.
According to Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency, on August 30, Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister General Baritorofi, who also manages the aviation industry, stated that Iran is conducting two-way exchanges and consultations with Russia and China at the same time. Determine which side to buy the export version of the advanced fighter. Moreover, Iran hopes to get a fifth-generation stealth fighter instead of a fourth-generation conventional fighter.
So, the export-type stealth fighter of the J-31 fighter is within Iran’s consideration. In the past, there were reasons why the outside world was not optimistic about the prospects of the F-31. The maneuverability of the F-31 in the early stage was very backward.
Now the 3.0 Falcon Eagle version of the F-31 uses a DSI inlet design layout similar to the F-20, which can greatly increase the intake efficiency, reduce the radar reflection cross section, and enhance the stealth capability. The turbofan 13 series engine independently developed in China is also installed, which is no longer what it used to be. Iran now has 300 fighters to update the demand, the market for the J 31 will be very large.
