The Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIAF) is due to start receiving the 24 Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E fighters in March. Part of the planes manufactured in Russia will operate from the same air base that is home to the classic F-14 Tomcat.
Speaking to the local portal Tasnim, Shahriar Heidari, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament, said that the planes arrive at the beginning of the Persian New Year 1402, which starts in two months.
The parliamentarian points out that Iran acquired a range of other Russian military equipment, including air defense systems and helicopters, most of which will also be delivered shortly.
The purchase of such equipment takes place in the midst of a closer relations between Moscow and Tehran, after Russia acquired Iranian drones and missiles for employment against Ukraine.
Still according to the portal, some of the Su-35s will be headquartered at the 8th Tactical Air Base in Isfahan, in the center of the country, about 340 km from the capital Tehran. The base, adjacent to an international airport, is also one of the headquarters for legendary Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
Iran became, in 1976, the first and only export customer of what is one of the most famous North American fighters, immortalized by the movies Nimitz: Back to Hell (1980) Top Gun: Indomitable Aces (1986) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Learn more: 14 curiosities about the F-14 Tomcat
The Iranians acquired 80 F-14As, but the last aircraft was retained in the US due to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. It was in the hands of the IRIAF that the Tomcat had its baptism of fire, being responsible for the shooting down of approximately 130 Iraqi aircraft. Despite Iran's F-14 fleet having suffered greatly from the US embargo, the country has managed to turn around and today has about 40 of these planes in operation, some reportedly modernized locally.
The last time Iran bought fighter jets was shortly after the end of the Iran-Iraq War. At the time, the IRIAF received a handful of MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters and Su-24 Fencer attack jets. Years later the IRIAF absorbed a number of fighter jets that fled Iraq with the US invasion, including Su-20/22 Fitter, Su-25 Frogfoot, MiG-23 Flogger fighters, Mirage F1 and more MiG- 29.
The arrival of the Su-35 will be a true technological leap in Iran, whose newest fighters are precisely the MiG-29. The Su-35S Flanker-E is the newest variant of the so-called “Flanker Family”, which began with the Sukhoi Su-27 in the 1970s. It is a 4.5 (or 4++) Generation fighter, equipped with a pair of Lyulka Saturn AL-41F1S turbofan engines with movable nozzles (thrust vectoring), making it super maneuverable.
The jet has 12 hard points for carrying various weapons such as air-to-air, air-to-ground, anti-radar and anti-ship missiles, guided bombs, rockets and others, in addition to carrying a 30mm GSh-1-30 cannon with 150 rounds of ammunition. Its two main sensors are the ive electronically scanned array (PESA) radar IRBIS-E and the IRST (Infrared Search and Track) OLS-35.
Offered to a number of countries (including Brazil), the Su-35 is operated only by Russia and China: 110 aircraft for Moscow and 24 for Beijing. The model is also being widely used in the Ukrainian War, where at least one such plane was shot down in April.
