With Its U.S. Jets Aging Iran Appears to Be Close to a 250-Sukhoi Order
If this sale goes through, it could greatly boost the capabilities of Iran's air force, but still nowhere in comparison to America, Britain, or even Israel. It's roughly equivalent in capabilities to an American F-15 or F-18.Show News has learned that Russia's Rosoboronexport(ROE) is close to signing a defense order with Iran that may be the largest in more that three decades. A number of advanced Russian systems have been on the Iranian shopping list for some time, including the Almaz-Antei S-300 series of long-range SAMs, and Iran is in desperate need of finding substitutes for its fleet of 1970s-era American fighters.
The centerpiece of this sale is reportedly an order for 250 Sukhoi SU-30MK fighters, the largest order ever made at any one time for this aircraft. It is unclear what the configuration of the aircraft would be, however. Recently, Irkut delivered its first SU-30MKM versions of the aircraft to Malaysia - an "Islamic" version based on the Indian Air Force's Su-30MKI sans its Israel Kit.
But this variant of the aircraft contains European content from Thales and others, and it is unclear that the French avionics maker would do business with the Iranians while Tehran refuses to halt its uranium enrichment program. In the past, Thales officials have declined to discuss other military business with Iran, such as an upgrade program for the IRIAF's Mikoyan MiG-29 fleet.
Iran had been interested in a licensed production agreement to manufacture the MiG-29 and Tupolev Tu-334 and had close to signing a deal, but negotiations reportedly collapsed over constantly shifting demands by the Iranian side. Sukhoi and its associated production plants, KnAAPO and Irkut, have a good deal of experience in setting up a licensed assembly agreements. Also, over the past ten years or more, ROE has continued to mantain good relations with Iran - positioning itself for just this kind of sales opportunity.
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