SU-35 is a defence jet, not an assault one. It’s getting shot over Ukraine because it’s not used for its purpose. It’s like sending a heavy bomber into a dog fight.
It’s supposed to be an air superiority aircraft not an interceptor. I think you’ve confused the two. Inceptors are defensive, air superiority are aggressive.
Their role is to take control of new areas, in this role they’ve been taken out by Ukraine’s air defence. Which defends against aggressive aircraft.
You don’t see an issue in international relations if Iran is cooperative with Russia? And how this might involve the world and in return the United States?
Well because they are a very powerful ally and they have been for a while. As much as it sucks that they are doing horrible things in Gaza, we have had them in our corner since the 40s and they are closer. With nukes. It’s a strategic move.
Ah yes such a powerful ally that we have to subsidize their defense. Such a powerful ally that they haven’t given the US any military support since the cold fucking war. Truly the strongest ally ever.
Having an ally doesn’t mean you have to things sent to you. It means when there is a fight they are on your side. Which is what Russia is trying to stoke. I mean you can be angry with me, it doesn’t change what their plans are and how they are playing it.
The Iranians have been churning out literal thousands of Shahed drones for Russia to shoot into Ukraine. I’m pretty sure this was the other half of the deal they made.
Russia’s share of the global arms export market was in a gradual decline before Ukraine, and it’s been in a virtual freefall post invasion.
This is the kind of PR they need for the long term financial survival of their big ticket weapons programs. So whether they can spare these planes militarily, might be a secondary consideration behind financial longevity concerns.
SU-35s are legemdarily good like their older SU-27 brothers. They’re arguably the best Gen 4 aircraft in the world now. In general,.Soviet and Russian aircraft have been very formidable.
What you’re confusing “shittier” with is after Sukhoi hand the aircraft over to the Russian military. At which point poor selection and training hop in, strapped with janky or old weaponry, given orders by notoriously bad tacticians. And suddenly your fancy “Gen 4.5” aircraft is getting downed by anything with a half modern missile in the tube.
Toe-to-toe it’ll be Israel’s F-16s—which will need modern configs—that will present a challenge. Certainly not the F-15s. But the real contender will be SAMs which I imagine are the latest fancy American ones.
Well… yes and no. Anything made in Russia over the last 2 years likely has electronics that are rather suspect. I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that some of those new flankers Iran is getting have some repurposed Whirlpool dishwasher chips squirreled away in there somewhere.
Israel has 36 F-35s. You can argue about the cost efficiency of the design if you want, but the actual result will be a bunch of dead SU-35s, not a fight between roughly equivalent Gen 4 fighters.
Also, just saying, the American Generation 4.5 was the F-18, not the F-16. The F-16s were originally designed in 1976 (and America didn’t sell the F-18s to everyone, while the F-16 is still arguably America’s main fighter export)
The Super Hornets in particular are noted for being an actual 4.5 frame, sharing a lot of design features that would come to distinguish genuine Gen 5 fighters.
Only Australia and Kuwait, for some reason, were allowed to buy those sexy beasts.
Fair enough! There’s no getting around the fact that the Hornets can load up a lot more ordinance and has better avionics just from being a bigger frame with more thrust, but the F-16s do have a baseline speed and maneuvering advantage.
The issue with Israel isn't the quality of their weapons and munitions. It's the quantity. This article explains how they don't have many fighter pilots
Israel has something like 35000 people in it's air force. That's a tiny air force. Most of those people are going to be in some type of support role. The article talks about the most elite squadron being only 40 people. Losing one person is arguably a bigger loss than the plane. After all, doesn't matter if you have a plane if no one can fly it
Israel has something like 35000 people in it’s air force. That’s a tiny air force.
That’s very relative. While it may seem tiny from US or Chinese POV it’s more than the whole militaries of many European nations even twice as big as Israel.
Israel only has around 9 million people. Yes they have more than some comparable countries, and thanks to US military aid, they have a formidable military, but they're tapped. They have mandatory service. The people that are capable of being fighter pilots are fighter pilots.
Other countries have mobilization that can happen. Israel doesn't really have that to a huge degree.
Oh, that’s interesting, I didn’t know that, but those 40 would be the guys flying the 36 F-35s, you know? They’re just not going to lose that many of them to SU-35S.
And they can protest the Palestinian genocide, because Hamas doesnt have an air force, but if Iran starts sending in bombing missions they’ll be in the air.
Given that Iran paid for them years ago and is now in a bit more of a tense situation than usual, I have a feeling Iran is saying to Russia that they'd better deliver or they'll stop selling stuff to Russia. Iran will be fine if Russia loses to Ukraine, so they can afford to make that threat
This seems good all around to me. Russia has fewer planes to attack Ukraine and Israel ends up focusing more of its resources on the Iranian military instead of Gazan civilians. A bit of a "why don't you pick on someone your own size" situation.
For one thing, they don’t have a border with Israel, and Israel doesn’t have Marines, so they can’t even load up and sail through ally controlled water.
If Israeli troops try to invade Iran, or vice versa, it will either be through Iraq and Jordan/Syria and a whole bunch of weird shit will kick off if that happens.
Also… Everyone knows Israel has nukes, and Iran’s program was rather famously sabotaged.
Iran should have plenty of material for a dirty bomb from their joint Russian reactor project many many years back. The problem is that the US can fingerprint Uranium to where it was mined after a blast due to each mine having their own set of impurities based on the region the material came from.
If the he material used in the peaceful electrical reactor project ends up in a bomb, it could be used as Casus Belli for a Nuclear Reaponse against Iran and Russia by Israel and the US.
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