no pics?

as we can see lately most countries are buying their own jetaircrafts and saudi arabia is going to get eurofighters but iran which is an extremely rich country that can afford any russian jetfighter leaves me to the conclusion why has it been so quite and not purchasing any new fighters at all? i think IRIAF is going through a big depression right now :(.

Iran isn’t poor, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying extremely rich. Other wise Iran has alot of domestic projects going on. 2 Fighter programs, at least 3 trainer programs (one of which could double as a light fighter/strike aircraft), and a number of helicopter and missile and armor programs, can be quite expensive.

Yeh I am Afghan! 🙂

how are things between Hazaras and the rest of the Afghani ethnic groups? I recalled they weren’t too liked by many.

just wondering, are you from Afghanistan?

What is so difficult on my nickname?
It is
S C H O R S C H.

think about it.. an 8 letter name with only ONE vowel.. can you blame us? 😀

Shcorsh, you are right in that it’s more than just air to air kills. And while I don’t really doubt Iraq’s sortie rates (since most of the world was funding them).. I’ve always had speculations on Irans.. simply because accurate data for them is difficult to come by.. you go to any established site, magazine or book and they would all give different estimates.. 10-20 years ago, most of them said Iran had no useable F-14s and Phoenixes.. and the opposite happened as they were very well flying (although we don’t know the extent of their condition).

just don’t send your super bugs against them, you might get embarrassed. 🙂

Scooter Libby is right, don’t under estimate the Super Hornet. Sure, it may be draggier and slower to accelerate than some of it’s contemporaries, but keep in mind.. in a real war, it’s not about raw performance alone, but the entire system as a whole. Which means you have to include the radar, the weapons carried, and counter measures, something which the Super Hornet has no shortage (or deficiencies) in. Not to mention that it will often operate in conjunction with other aircrafts to better maximize efficiency and aerial supremacy and minimalizing risks. Lets face it, whenever possible countries will avoid having 1 vs 1 engagements or something fair.. the goal is to make it unfair so you can win.

However I disagree with him in comparing Iran’s air force to Iraq. Just looking at the air to air record in the 8 years of the Iran-Iraq war, the results heavily favor the Iranian Air Force, giving them one of the highest kill ratios in modern aircombat, placing them behind Israel and the US.

As for the radar being compromised.. I wonder how much of the Zaslon they improved that would make it’s revelation moot as the US now has information on how to counter all levels of emissions radiating out of that radar..some would argue that it would require a totally new radar system. The spy that was executed wasn’t the only case. The CIA managed to get a good inspection of a MiG-31 in an ex Soviet state (no idea if it was a Russian MiG-31 flying there.. or if it belonged to an ex Soviet state, which could only be Kazakhstan). I will have to get back to you on the Su-27’s radar later.