On January 15, a member of the parliamentary commission on national security and foreign
policy of Iran Shahriar Heydari for the first time said that Iran buys Su-35 fighters in Russia.
It is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Tasnim news.
Egypt, which recently ordered 24 Su-35 fighter jets from Russia,
later refused to accept those planes.
Su-35s, which Egypt did not receive due to the US embargo, are being sent to Iran.
The delivery of the planes is planned to take place in March.
The member of the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament, Shahriar Haidari,
said that the ordered Russian Su-35 fighter jets will be delivered to Tehran in three months.
To the Tesnim agency, Haidari gave information about the equipment for
the defense industry that will come from Russia.
“The Su-35 fighter jets that Iran ordered from Russia will arrive in the country early next
year [starting from March 21 according to the Hijri Shamsi calendar],” Haidari said.
The Iranian official also said that most of the defense systems, missiles,
and helicopters ordered from Russia would soon arrive in the country.
In recent years, the news that Iran will purchase Su-30 fighter jets from Russia
has come to the fore. Iran’s Air Force Commander Hamid Vahidi said in a statement in September 2022
that “they will buy the Su-35 from Russia, and buying the Su-30 is not on the agenda.”
In Iran, where the Hijri Shamsi calendar is used, March 21 is considered the first
day of the new year.Relations between Iran and Russia, which have become very close recently,
are showing their effect in the field of the defense industry as well.
Iran recently sent Shahed-136 munitions to Russia and these munitions were targeted at
Ukrainian cities. In return, Russia supplies the defense equipment that Iran needs.
The delivery of Su-35s would mean a significant upgrade for the aging Iranian fleet. Classified
as a 4.5 or 4++ generation jet, the Su-35 is a deeply modified derivative of the Su-27,
one of the most successful and popular Soviet fighter jets.
The Su-35 was developed in the 1980s and 90s,
although its production did not start in earnest until the early 2010s.
The aircraft is a multirole fighter jet, tasked with performing both
air superiority and ground attack missions.
It has been extensively used during Russia’s intervention in Syria and the invasion of Ukraine,
where at least one Su-35 has been visually confirmed as shot down.
Besides serving with Russian Aerospace Forces,
the Su-35 has also been exported to China. A number of other countries, including Egypt,
Turkey, Algeria and Indonesia, have also considered purchasing the aircraft in the past.
The first confirmation of such plans came in September 2022, when the head of Iran’s air force
Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi confirmed that the issue of purchasing Su-35s was “on the agenda”.
In December 2022 unnamed US officials said that Russia had started to train
Iranian pilots to fly the Su-35, according to US media reports.
The aircraft may be exchanged for Iranian-made
weapons, such as loitering munitions and ballistic missiles, the officials said.
The Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) currently operates a collection of Cold
War-era aircraft which it has been unable to replace or upgrade for decades.
The bulk of the IRIAF fighter jet fleet consists of US-made McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II,
Northrop F-5 Tiger II and Grumman F-14 Tomcat jets inherited from the
Imperial Iranian Air Force after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
In the 1980s and 90s the types were supplemented by small numbers
of Chengdu J-7s 9 (Chinese copies of the MiG-21), MiG-29s and Mirage F1s.
In the 2000s Iran also showcased some domestically manufactured variants of
the F-5, although their numbers are believed to be very low.
International sanctions largely prevented Iran from upgrading its military aircraft fleets,
with most IRIAF aircraft being more than 40 years old.
According to Tasnim news agency, Iran expects to take delivery of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets
from Russia early next Iranian year, which starts in March 2023, a lawmaker said.
Speaking to Tasnim, member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign
Policy Commission Shahriar Heidari said the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets
that Iran has ordered from Russia are going to arrive in early 1402 (begins on March 21).
Media reports suggested earlier that Iran will receive 24 Su-35s
primarily used for air superiority missions.
Some of the combat aircraft are anticipated to be housed at Tactical Air Base (TAB) 8
of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), which is located in the Iranian
city of Isfahan in the country's center. The training took place in the spring 2022.
Iran hasn’t acquired any new fighter aircraft in recent years,
excluding a few Russian MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters it bought in the 1990s.