As a pursuing Middle Eastern power, Iran belongs to the maritime power: the coastline is 2,815 kilometers, and the maritime borders are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman; In addition, Iran has a 740-kilometer-long shoreline of Lake Caspian and borders Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and other countries - so the strength of Iran's navy is especially important to protect Iran's resources;
After the end of the Iran-Iraq War, Iran has the determination, confidence and willingness to invest a lot of money and resources to resolutely implement the plan to build large destroyers on its own: this is an incredible thing for many countries! It was this determination that allowed the Iranians' heavy industrial system to navigate through difficult times... In the 21st century, with the changes in the international environment and the suggestions of allies, Iran's shipbuilding industry has finally made a great improvement: self-copying foreign frigates has been successful!
Several types of Iranian frigates are too in line with the current trend, but their integration to form combat effectiveness is the success of Iran's shipbuilding industry! Even voyages to Venezuela: this determination and the experience gained in the ocean will be helpful in improving shipbuilding technology - the United States is not afraid of the Iranian navy, but it is afraid that Iran will establish a sound heavy industry system;
The real breakthrough comes from Iran's self-built 600-ton stealth catamaran missile boat: "Suleimani" class! It has broken through several technical difficulties: first, the design and construction difficulties of trimaran and wave-piercing bows, second, vertical launch system ships, third, the design and testing of low detectable performance of the whole ship - Iran has a certain accumulation in ship line design, low detectable capability design and testing, and the development and testing of shipborne weapons - it can build large shield drives;
Iran abandoned the plan to build a three-body 7,000-ton shield drive in a hurry, and instead realized the construction of a 6,000-ton shield drive: first complete the construction of the semi-stealthy Moj-class, and then build a "jewel" medium destroyer equipped with the "Hawkeye" active phased array radar - this is the result of Iran's shipbuilding skills;
Although the Suleimani class is equipped with a vertical hair system on a small body plate of 500-600 tons, a simple shipborne radar system cannot support the vertical hair system - raising questions about whether Iran is putting on a show; The second Dana, the second ship, was originally scheduled to enter the ranks in late January and early February 2021: the ship will have a vertical launch system and a phased array radar, its propulsion system will be significantly changed, and it will also be equipped with new communications systems. However, it seems to have capsized.... Even if it is rebuilt, it will have to wait for 2023 or later, so Iran still needs to hurry up to build medium-sized shield drives;
However, the picture revealed by the "jewel" shield drive is very interesting: if it is not an Iranian artificial fake, this "Hawkeye" is similar to the Israeli AESA of the Indian stealth destroyer, and may use an integrated mast - this is enough to support the vertical system against saturation strikes, area air defense, and ground attacks;
On December 9, 2018, at the Abbas Maritime Exhibition in Iran, the new domestically produced AESA, codename: Hawkeye, was publicly exhibited for the first time. It belongs to the S-band active phased array radar, using the internationally popular four-sided shield design, the front surface is round, arranged on a platform at 360 degrees, the effective detection distance is more than 250 kilometers, and the detection height is up to 30,000 meters; However, there was also a navigation radar above it at that time, and proportionally, the Iranians' AESA seemed to be bragging; Also, the West has severely sanctioned Iran, where did Iran get such advanced sub-array manufacturing technology and materials (the world's two are the most perfect)...
However, if the Iranian hair is Russia's early cold launch system, then it can only launch single-function missiles, the launch efficiency is not high, and the failure rate is quite high; If the Russian-made "Lute Dao" air defense missile vertical launch system with multiple bombs is adopted, each vertical launch unit can be loaded with one 48N6 series long-range air defense missile (maximum range of 120 km) or four 9M96E1/E2 medium-range air defense missiles (with a range of 40 km) in a "one pit and four bombs" method - this is more suitable for the needs of Iranians; However, the vertical launch of anti-ship missiles requires other space settings - that is, the Russian vertical launch system cannot achieve the co-launch of special-shaped missiles, which brings design problems that destroy the stealth shape: the hull must carry more shipborne equipment and radar, and Russia's system integration technology is limited, and the good 22350 stealth ship mast is a bit like a hedgehog...
In addition, the cost of two systems will not be cheap: more guidance systems are needed to work with the two of them, and larger hulls are needed - it is doubtful that the Iranians can design them properly; Therefore, it is very likely that Iran's hair will not be Russian technology (just as the Iranians' stealth fighter actually flew, and the technical support behind it is also not Russian) - if it is possible to develop a special-shaped missile co-mount cold launch system, it seems that there is only one country ...
Surprisingly, Iran recently exported civilian-grade gas turbines to Russia – meaning that Iran has the technology, and will it be possible to have a gas turbine model for military ships soon? It should not be a roadblock – Iran can get reliable technical guidance from East Asian powers;
Through the Russian-Ukrainian war, the awakened Iranians should no longer be superstitious about Russian military technology: only East Asian allies can provide a full set of shipborne electronic warfare and perception systems - Russian-made ship perception systems are really not contentious! The Jewel class is Iran's heavy weapon, and its shipboard equipment should use advanced third-generation combat command systems, electronic warfare systems, and guidance systems - all provided by East Asian allies.