By Boyko Nikolov On Dec 29, 2021
SU-35
TEHRAN, ($1=42,262.50 Iranian Rial) – Iran’s Mehr news agency says Russia and Iran will sign a 20-year agreement on security and defense cooperation in January 2022. As part of this agreement, Iran will pay $10 billion for the acquisition of dozens of Su-35s, S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, and a space satellite.
Mehr cites information from two other web portals – the US website 19fortyfive.com and the Argentine defense and security portal aviacionline.com.
Iranian journalists say Tehran is ready to acquire 24 Su-35CE fighters from Moscow. These fighters have already been produced and are part of an unfinished order between Russia and Egypt, Mehr said. Bulgarian Military.com reminds you that Russia and Egypt signed an agreement in 2018 for the purchase and sale of 24/26 Su-35CE fighters. At the time, the deal was valued at nearly $3 billion. According to Mehr, Russia has currently produced 16 fighter jets under the agreement.
The main reason Egypt has hesitations in acquiring Russian fighter jets is the possibility of economic sanctions from the United States against the African country. This opinion is expressed by the Argentine site aviacionline.com. BulgarianMilitary.com reminds you that Egypt and the United States have business relations in the defense industry. For example, Egypt is the largest foreign user of Abrams tanks and even has a plant for the production of M1A1 Abrams near Cairo. Recently, even Cairo expressed a desire to upgrade its Abrams tanks to a higher version – A1M2.
Another important fact concerning the Egyptian-American relations in the field of defense production – Cairo has 200 F-16 fighters and dozens of AH-64 Apache helicopters.
For this reason, aviacionline.com believes that Egypt will not acquire Russian Su-35CE fighters. It has recently become clear that Indonesia is also refusing to buy 11 units of Russian warplanes, also due to fears of economic sanctions from Washington. Currently, only the French Rafale and the American F-15EX are participating in the Indonesian tender for new fighters.
That is why the authors of the American page 19fortyfive.com and the Argentine portal for defense and security aviacionline.com believe that Iran is the best destination for Russia to “get rid” of the already produced fighters. BulgarianMilitary.com reminds you that the UN lifted the arms embargo on Iran, despite repeated protests from Washington.
It is the arms embargo over the years that have caused Iran to lag in the development of weapons technology. And although Tehran has invested and produced some of its products in recent years, such as drones and various surface-to-air missiles, Iran needs foreign know-how. The possible purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system would not surprise the world.
The same goes for a communication satellite. BulgarianMilitary.com reminded you that only a few months ago Iran launched its first satellite into space, but it is more of a “big camera”, as some Western media have described it. In this area, Tehran will want to receive assistance from Moscow in its space future.