Israel's Haaretz newspaper quoted Iranian media "Etemad" as saying that the 24 Su-35S fighters purchased by Iran have begun to enter the delivery stage, and the first batch of fighters has already entered the handover work; Israeli media said that the Iranian Air Force is expected to begin receiving the first batch of 12 Su-35S fighters in the next few days. Relations between Israel and Iran are currently strained, so Israel is sensitive to Iran's air force buildup.
Russian-made Su-35 fighter jet
You must know that Israel's greatest military advantage over Iran at present lies in its air power. Since Israel and Iran do not share a border, in the "turn-based" mutual retaliation between the two sides, Iran has given full play to the power of missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other standoff strike weapons, firing a large number of ammunition at a time, in order to support the firepower channel of the Israeli air defense system and strive to win by quantity. Israel, on the other hand, has given full play to the advantages of its fighter planes, adopted the method of refueling in the air to expand the strike range of its fighters, and used the excellent performance of F-15, F-16, F-35, and other fighters to break through Iran's air defense fire network and launch missiles or aerial bombs to complete the attack.
Su-35 fighter production line
In the contest between the two sides, Iran's missiles have to break through the air defense interception network composed of regional air defense warships deployed by the West in the Red Sea and the eastern Mediterranean, and also break through Israel's own territorial air defense network based on the Iron Dome system and supplemented by air interception by fighter jets. However, due to the lack of Iran's own air force, Iran lacks effective means of interception defense in the face of Israeli air strikes. In fact, Iran and Israel's long-range strike capabilities are still unequal. This has always put Iran in a disadvantageous position in the confrontation with Israel.
Active fighter of the Iranian Air Force
The Iranian Air Force's equipment is very old, and the current available fighter jets include about 40 F-14A fighters, 28 MiG-29 fighters, 36 F-4D/E fighters, 7 RF-4E combat reconnaissance aircraft, 10 Mirage F-1 fighters, 61 F-5 fighters, 13 RF-5A fighters, 36 MiG-21/J-7 fighters, and 34 Su-24 attack aircraft, 37 Su-22 attack aircraft, 13 Su-25 attack aircraft, as well as 6 air tankers. In addition, the Iranian Air Force has an unknown number of domestically produced Lightning series and Kosar series fighters, which can be seen as an upgraded version of the Iranian imitation of the F-5 light fighter.
Russian-made Su-35 fighter jet
It can be seen from this that the main fighter force of the Iranian Air Force is the second-generation light fighter, and there are only 68 fourth-generation fighters available, and the performance is not as good as Israel's F-15I, F-16C/D, F-35I and other fighters, which are not opponents at all. If Iran does not step up efforts to improve its air force, it will suffer a big loss if a major conflict breaks out with Israel in the future. After all, Israeli fighter jets drop aerial bombs at a lower price than Iranian missiles, and the firepower is more dense and powerful. For Iran, there is an urgent need to improve the strength of the air force.
F-14 fighters of the Iranian Air Force
If the 12 Su-35S fighters can be successfully delivered this time, then Iran's air resistance capability can be improved to a certain extent. However, even if all 24 Su-35S fighters are delivered, the gap between the Iranian Air Force and the Israeli Air Force is still huge. After all, Israel has about 300 F-15, F-16 series 4th generation fighters, and more than 40 active F-35I 5th generation fighters. For Iran, in order to improve its confrontation capability with the Israeli Air Force, and even reach the strength of sending fighter jets to attack Israel, it must purchase fifth-generation stealth fighters, and only in this way can it level the strength gap with the Israeli Air Force as much as possible and have the ability to stealth and penetrate the Israeli air defense system.
F-14 fighters of the Iranian Air Force
In addition to the purchase of a large number of fifth-generation fighters, only 24 Su-35S fighters are still unable to compete with the Israeli Air Force. As for the purchase of fifth-generation fighters, Iran currently has only two options, and there is a high probability that it can only buy aircraft from one of these countries, that is, Russia's Su-57 or Su-75 fighters;