Many U.S. allies have used F-4 Phantom fighters, according to the news obtained by the War Research Institute, South Korea and Japan have been equipped with F-4 Phantom fighters from the United States, but as early as 2019, Japan has announced that it will retire F-4 Phantom fighters, and South Korea's F-4 Phantom fighter retirement will be delayed until 2024. South Korea has been carrying out a final ban on the retirement of F-4 fighters in recent days, and according to the information obtained by the War Research Institute, the South Korean Air Force was equipped with F-4 fighters in 1969, and with the continuous service of these fighters, it is obvious that the modernization level of these fighters has been seriously insufficient. After the retirement in batches, there are only 12 F-4 fighters left in the combat sequence of the South Korean Air Force that can continue to fly, and according to the plan, they will fly until June this year, and after the F-4 fighter retirement ceremony, according to the information disclosed by the media, 2 KF-21 fighters and 4 F-4 fighters formed an air formation and flew around the whole of South Korea.
According to the plan of the South Korean side, the KF-21 fighter will take over many tasks of the F-4 fighter in the future, but the current production of the KF-21 fighter is still seriously insufficient, so the F-4 fighter will be replaced by the F/A-50 light fighter in the future, in order to commemorate the retirement, South Korea has pasted the service schedule from 1969 to 2024 on a number of F-4 fighters, and also painted a F-4 fighter with Southeast Asian camouflage, This is also the camouflage paint used by many U.S. fighter jets deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, and while South Korea retires F-4 fighter jets, it also means that only Iran in Asia will continue to use F-4 fighter jets.
Much of the weapons and equipment currently equipped by the Iranian Air Force are very old, and it is especially important for Iran to upgrade the existing equipment. Although there are constant rumors that Iran will obtain a batch of Russian-made Su-35 multi-role fighters in the future, at present, there does not seem to be an exact timetable for the delivery of Su-35 to Iran, and it is difficult to really change the fate of the Iranian Air Force with a few Su-35 multi-role fighters. The JF-17 Thunder fighter jointly developed by Pakistan.
From the point of view of modernization, these JF-17 Thunder fighters are equipped with AESA active scanning array radar, and also have a glass cockpit, which is significantly improved compared with the existing old fighters of the Iraqi Air Force and the Iranian Air Force, of course, these Thunder fighters can also complete the Thunderbolt 15E air-to-air missile carrying, greatly enhancing the air combat capability. From the point of view of the cost of fighter jets, the Thunder fighter is much cheaper than some American and Russian fighters, so the Thunder fighter is also very suitable for countries like Iran and Iraq.
Now Iraq has purchased Thunder fighters from Pakistan, and at the same time, South Korea has carried out the retirement flight of F-4 fighters, and the war research institute believes that this actually reminds Iran that it can also choose China's Thunder fighters to improve the modernization level of the Iranian Air Force, and if Iran can buy Thunder fighters, it can also quickly upgrade some old MiG-29 fighters, F-4 fighters, and F-5 fighters in the fleet. Text/Iris