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Iran has purchased Su-35s fighter jets from Russia, Ali Shadmani, a senior commander of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, announced on January 27.
Shadmani, who was quoted by Iran’s official Student News Network, did not clarify how many jets were purchased and whether they had already been delivered to Iran.
“Whenever necessary, we make military purchases to strengthen our air, land, and naval forces… The production of military equipment has also accelerated,” the deputy Coordinator of the Khatam-ol-Anbia Central Headquarters said.
In April of 2023, Iran announced that it had finalized a deal to buy Su-35 fighter jets from Russia. Under the deal, the IRIAF is supposed to receive a total of 24 Su-35s which were originally built for Egypt as a part of a contract that was thwarted by the United States.
The Su-35 was designed to engage all types of aerial targets in long and close ranged air battles as well as to attack ground and sea-surface targets including those covered by air defenses and located far behind the frontline.
One of the main features of the Su-35 is the Irbis-E multi-mode, hybrid passive electronically scanned array radar system, which can detect and track up to 30 airborne targets at one time at ranges of up to 350 kilometers, and attack up to eight of them.
The fighter jet can carry a variety of advanced weapons, including the R-37 air-to-air missile, the Kh-59 land-attack cruise missile, the Kh-58 anti-radiation missile and the Kh-35 anti-ship cruise missile.
These advanced fighter jets would boost the capabilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) which operates only a few dozen strike aircraft, including Soviet-era fighter jets as well as aging United States-made models acquired before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Earlier this month, Iran and Russia signed a comprehensive strategic partnership which did not mention arms transfers but said the two will develop their “military-technical cooperation.”
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