Iran close to ordering 250 Su-30MK along with Mig-29/Mig-31

crazyinsane105

Junior Member
VIP Professional
Per Aviation Week's Day Four recap of the Paris Air Show, Syria is going to be acquiring MiG-31E's via Iranian funding and Iran themselves could very well be acquring both MiG-31E's as well as brand new MiG-29M/M2 aircraft via Belarus so the bill of sale will not be listed as Iran being the ultimate end user so as to get around the West's objections.

Reports also state that Iran is close to signing a huge order for 250 Su-30Mk's with Russia's Rosobornoexport (ROE) to replace all their 1970's US combat aircraft which might include licensed production rights to produce their own; this would be the largest single order for the aircraft ever. However, this version includes French Thales avionics and they might not be willing to sell them anything given the current nuclear issue with pretty much everyone else in the world save Russia and China - but I would imagine that would not be a huge deal breaker and they would acquire something comparable to get the deal done.

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Vlad Plasmius

Junior Member
Per Aviation Week's Day Four recap of the Paris Air Show, Syria is going to be acquiring MiG-31E's via Iranian funding and Iran themselves could very well be acquring both MiG-31E's as well as brand new MiG-29M/M2 aircraft via Belarus so the bill of sale will not be listed as Iran being the ultimate end user so as to get around the West's objections.

This is certainly a matter of intrigue. The connections between Russia, Syria, and Iran in regards to this one matter are astounding and how it expands to other deals.

It seems like Russia may have been trying to cover up this deal for some reason.
 

crazyinsane105

Junior Member
VIP Professional
Iran buys 250 long-distance Sukhoi fighter-bombers, 20 fuel tankers, from Russia
July 27, 2007

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Tehran and the Russian Rosoboronexport arms group are about to sign a mammoth arms deal running into tens of billions of dollars for the sale to Tehran of 250 Su-30MKM warplanes and 20 IL-78 MKI fuel tankers. DEBKAfile’s military sources report Iran has stipulated delivery of the first aircraft before the end of 2007.

The transaction, Russia’s largest arms deal in 30 years, will endow Iran with a long-range aerial assault capability. The Sukhoi can sustain a four-and-a-half hour raid at its maximum range of 3,000 km against long-distance, marine and low-lying ground targets across the Persian Gulf and Middle East, including Israel and Lebanon.

The fuel tankers extends the Su-30MKM’s assault sustainability to 10 hours and its range to 8,000 km at altitudes of 11-13 km. The closest comparable plane in the West is the American F-15E fighter bomber. Iran’s acquisition of an exceptionally large fleet of the Russian fighter-bomber will elevate its air force to one of the two largest and most advanced in the region, alongside the Israeli Air Force.

Iranian air crews are already training on the new Sukhoi aircraft, ready to start flying them early next year with only a short delay after delivery. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Moscow is selling Tehran the same Sukhoi model as India received earlier this year. The Iranians leaned hard on New Delhi to let them have the Israeli avionics and electronics the Indian Air Force had installed in the Russian craft. India refused.

Russia began delivering the same craft in June to Malaysia, which also sought Israeli avionics without success. The Su-20MKM has won the nickname of “Islamic Version of Sukhoi.”

Its two-member crew shares the workload. The first pilot flies the aircraft, controls weapons and maneuvers the plane in a dogfight. The co-pilot employs BVR air-to-air and air-to-ground guided weapons in long-range engagements, sweeps the arena for enemy craft or missiles and performs as command-and-control in group missions.

Some of the plane’s systems are products of the French Thales Airborne Systems company. Moscow’s contract with Tehran for the sale of the Su-30MKM must therefore be cleared with Paris.

There is no decision in Jerusalem about asking Paris to withhold its consent to a deal which would substantially upgrade the long-range air assault capabilities of the Islamic Republic whose leaders want to wipe Israel off the map. However, President Nicolas Sarkozy is in mid-momentum of a diplomatic drive in the Arab and Muslim world and unlikely to be receptive to an Israeli approach. The only chance of aborting the Russian sale would be to route the approach through Washington.

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Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
This purchase really gives Iran an offensive capability it has never had before. What I found to especially astounding about this is the tanker purchase. That means that Iran wants to use these MKs for offensive operations. This sends a real message to Israel and the Gulf countries.

Iran is simaltaeneously beefing up its defensive capabilities by purchasing the MiG-31 and 29 if it does.
 

Totoro

Major
VIP Professional
This whole sale sounds a bit incredible, so i'll just wait and see how that goes. But, if it does go through: just how long would it take to build and deliver 250 planes for a single customer? Even if first plane is delivered by the end of this year, the 250th one can't possibly get delivered till 2015 or something like that. And even that would require largest scale production that sukhoi has seen. 2020 actually seems more realistic. Which again just makes me wonder if the whole story is bollocks. (some new planes - yeah, maybe. But 250 at once? It makes little sense. )
 

Finn McCool

Captain
Registered Member
This whole sale sounds a bit incredible, so i'll just wait and see how that goes. But, if it does go through: just how long would it take to build and deliver 250 planes for a single customer? Even if first plane is delivered by the end of this year, the 250th one can't possibly get delivered till 2015 or something like that. And even that would require largest scale production that sukhoi has seen. 2020 actually seems more realistic. Which again just makes me wonder if the whole story is bollocks. (some new planes - yeah, maybe. But 250 at once? It makes little sense. )

In addition do you really need 20 tankers for 250 planes? I would think that 5 or less would be enough.
 

Violet Oboe

Junior Member
The story appears to be completely implausible since the numbers alone (250 Su-30 + 20 Il-78, more Flankers than China bought in over a decade!:confused: ) are simply incredulous and additionally the relationship between Tehran and Moscow is currently indeed experiencing a ´rocky phase´.

Tehran is very angry with Russia that the 1000 MW Bushehr reactor is more than 7 years delayed and that Moscow has repeatedly reneged on the contract pledge for delivering the necessary fuel rods (meanwhile the date is pushed back to fall '08, i.e after US elections).
Iran's leadership class regardless of conservatives or reformers suffers from a deep trauma: inescapable dependence on a foreign major power (back in the old days the UK, then the US now at least in the nuclear realm Russia). Consequently they would spent a disposable hefty sum of 10 bn $ for indigenous developed and produced ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and their respective ´highly effective´warheads since only these weapons would ensure their own strategic independence.
(Of course Iran could probably buy some dozens of Su-30 or perhaps J-10 for a modest modernization of her airforce but this will not happen in the near term (maybe in 5-8 years))

P.S.: Perhaps the sales managers of Lockeed, Boeing and EADS have collectively fabricated the story for duping the Saudis into ordering more ´goodies´for defense against the ´big bad mullahs´imaginary russian toys!:D
 
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crazyinsane105

Junior Member
VIP Professional
"P.S.: Perhaps the sales managers of Lockeed, Boeing and EADS have collectively fabricated the story for duping the Saudis into ordering more ´goodies´for defense against the ´big bad mullahs´imaginary russian toys!"

Doubt the Saudis need to have Uncle Sam fabricate a story for them to buy fancy equipment. It is interesting to note though that US-Saudi relations are starting to deteriorate quite rapidly these days due to the Iraq war. Just yesterday the Bush administration blamed Saudi Arabia for playing a counterproductive hand in Iraq.

As for the Iranians ordering this many aircraft, it does seem strange if it were true. Why do they need 20 fuel tankers? Unless they plan on buying more aircraft or if they plan on extending the range on all their aircraft. Plus why aren't they buying any AWAC's? Those are the true force multipliers.
 

Roger604

Senior Member
Agreed, the implications are implausible. Either this is deliberate false information, or the Iranians have something up their sleeve :confused:
 

Clouded Leopard

Junior Member
This is one hell of an order if it's true. And why would Iran order 250 of the same aircraft, and the Su-30 at that? Unless the Su-30 is really the complete package for some reason or other.


Ginormous....
 
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