I ponder the same thing. Black market spares - that's definitely one way and in this case seems like the only way. RUMINT - Majority of the planes were grounded years ago and a few managed to survive on smuggled spares. The Iranians' seem to be paying big time for the state of their air force.
US - Israel - Iran War
- Thread starter Shan
- Start date
Credit to the Iranians if they managed to do some kinda desi jugaad. Not easy to keep a 50+ year old jet flying. Don't they fly some F-4 Phantoms too? Those still around?
Yep, I checked a few days ago they still had them. A few years ago they had them patrol their coast. Whether they are air worthy still or not, I have no clue. F-4 vs F-16 or a F-35....better to leave them in hangars.
Black market, Iranian networks in the US who routinely go to jail and some very crafty work by Iranian engineers who managed to make updates to some of the systems as well.
Israelis helped too (for a kings ransom) in some areas but largely they were limited by the fact that they did not have F-14s of their own.
In a move towards self sufficiency and also to address the issues with AWG-9 radars which were malfunctioning, Iranian engineers replaced some parts with solid state components - reducing the AWG-9 weight by 9 KG and improving performance - only to have pilots being unwilling to fly the updated planes due to lack of confidence on the local updates!!! It took a great deal of effort to remove that reluctance.
The Iranians remarked the biggest enemy of the F-14s was its TF30 engines which were difficult to maintain and very unreliable (Iranian F-14 in Combat - Cooper, Bishop)
Please elaborate.
I believe kulbhushan Yadav is already "exchanged" with the ISI guy that India captured in Nepal. Kulbhushan must be somewhere in India, enjoying retired life under a new identity (my hunch).
Can not imagine Modi already not bringing him back using Saudi / UAE contacts.
Would you imagine Israel leaving a near intact f35 for Chinese to steal from (they would have already bombed to bare skeleton). This must be AI generated.So Iran claimed 2 F-35s, and we have 2 wreckages... And this pic is clinching evidence.
@Innominate doesn't even trust his own brain, how do you expect him to trust his eyes? The proof is there for all to see.
The good news is that thanks to all this support from The Great Satan, Zion is winning. The bad news is that the more Zion wins, the more The Great Satan is screwed.
If war with China were to break out , it'd be great fun. On the other hand even if no war with China breaks out for say another 5 years given the rate of production how much is The Great Satan going to add to its arsenal?
Be afraid, sweetie, be very afraid!! Ja?
@Innominate
Satanyahud behaving like the cheap shlomo hustler from Brooklyn that he is . Constantly shifting goalposts to save his wrinkled butt.
Somebody introduce him to Wall Street style shlomo hustling in 20,000 USD Ralph Lauren pin striped suits , Ja? @Innominate
yeah , if they had an airforce they would have conquered middle east , rt ? They spent more on proxies than focusing on developing their defensive infra at home thats causing them a lot of issues. Even syria or afghanistan with manpads would put up a better a fight against the incoming aircraft.
Moral of the story : be very good at one thing instead of spraying all over the place. Even India has to develop robust defensive weapons instead of chasing the chimera of 6th gen invisible aircraft which will neither function as expected nor available in huge quantities.
They're saving it for the larger campaign in the ME to target all the oil facilities of those Gulf Sheikhdoms beholden to you when The Great Satan enters the war.
Stick around sweetie . You'd learn more about how to predict things in this part of the world from this forum than you would in all such discussion boards you & your unwashed culo frequent in Europe or America. Ja ?
"We affirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel," G7 leaders said in the statement.
"Iran is the principal source of regional instability and terror," the statement added and said the G7 was "clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon."
Ok sweetie , the stage seems all set for The Great Satan to enter the war with its minions for the country which controls all their destinies - Zion . Ja ? @Innominate
The Iranians are saying they were mockups. However, with the videos it is very difficult to say.