The first Russian Su-35se should arrive at the end of winter in Iran

While Iranian defense industries have made immense progress in some areas in recent years, such as drones, but also Baltic and cruise missiles, and anti-aircraft systems, Tehran's armies often remain, depending on the area, poorly equipped with obsolete equipment inherited from the Sha era of the late 70s. This is particularly the case for the air forces which, apart from Chinese and Russian fighters acquired in the 90s, use F5, F4 and F-14 aircraft almost 50 years old. In fact, the announcement made by the Iranian authorities this Sunday through the Tasnim news agency, according to which the first Su-35s acquired from the Russians will arrive in the country as early as March, constitutes a major development. operational capabilities of their air forces, and a potential upheaval in the regional balance of power.

According to the press release quoting Shahriar Heidari, member of the Iranian parliament and foreign affairs committee, the first Su-35se, without specifying their number or the overall volume of the order addressed to Russia, will indeed be delivered from the first months of the next year, which comes March 20 in the Persian calendar, for the feast of Nowruz. According to the sources, the Iranian order, obtained in compensation for the delivery of Shahed 136 long-range strike drones and, it seems, ballistic missiles, used by Moscow against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, would be for 24 to 30 aircraft, which could be previously the Su-35se acquired by Egypt before Cairo canceled its order under pressure from Washington.

Almost 22 meters long with a wingspan of 15,3 meters, the Su-35se is a twin-engine single-seat heavy fighter, the ultimate version of the Flankers family derived from the initial Su-27. The aircraft is particularly imposing, with an empty weight of 19 tons, and a maximum take-off weight of 35 tons, and therefore has a large payload capacity, with 11,5 tons of internal fuel and 12 points of payload under the wings and the cell. The aircraft therefore has great autonomy, with a range of 1.600 km, but also high performance thanks to its two Saturn AL-41 turbojet engines, each with a thrust of almost 9 tons dry, and more than 14 tons with afterburner. It also has a powerful Irbis-E radar with active PESA antenna, an IRST (infrared detector) OLS-35 and a Khibiny-M electronic defense suite, and can implement numerous air- air and Air Ground/surface, making it a versatile device that is both efficient and advanced, capable of effectively standing up to almost all Western combat aircraft.

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