Iran's pursuit of JF‑17 jets: Strategic shift amidst Su‑35s
In recent months, Iran has been making significant efforts to acquire Chinese JF-17 aircraft despite recently receiving dozens of Su-35 aircraft from Russia. We explain why and present the performance of these machines.
According to the Defense Express portal, Iran is making efforts that may be aimed at acquiring Chinese JF-17 aircraft. Recently, the commander of the Iranian Air Force, Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi, visited, leading a delegation of senior military officials serving as observers during the Indus Shield 2024 air exercises.
Furthermore, Hamid Vahedi was supposed to meet in Islamabad with his Pakistani counterpart, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar. The talks might be an attempt to bypass China's refusal to sell J-10C aircraft from a few months ago. Negotiations reportedly collapsed due to disagreements over payment methods, as China insisted on financial transactions while Tehran wanted to pay for the aircraft with oil supplies.
It seems that Iran is not sufficiently satisfied with the delivered Su-35 aircraft, or more likely, is looking for a second supplier who does not have issues with timely deliveries or spare parts production. The Russians have never excelled in this category, and now due to sanctions, the situation has further deteriorated.
JF-17 Thunder — a light multi-role aircraft
Iran is interested in the Pakistani-Chinese aircraft, most likely to replace its fleet of outdated F-5, F-4 Phantom, F-7M (a Chinese clone of the MiG-21), and Mirage F-1 aircraft (about 177 machines in total). These are light machines that cannot easily be replaced by Su-35 aircraft acquired as supplementary for the F-14 Tomcat.
The JF-17 Thunder was developed at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, with the first prototype flights taking place in 2003. Its mass production started in 2007, and Pakistan has already produced 150 aircraft. Additionally, the JF-17 Thunder has been purchased by the air forces of countries such as Myanmar, Nigeria, and Iraq.
The JF-17 is characterized by a length exceeding 14 metres, a wingspan of approximately 9.4 metres, and a take-off weight of around 13,500 kg. For comparison, the well-known F-16C Block 50 weighs over 19,000 kg in a similar configuration. The JF-17 achieves a maximum speed of Mach 1.8, and on eight pylons, it can carry up to 4,000 kg of armament. It is powered by a single RD-93 engine.
This aircraft is equipped with a modern radar with active electronically scanned array (AESA) and access to modern armaments, including a wide range of guided bombs weighing up to 900 kg, anti-ship missiles, and air-to-air weapons. In the latter category, PL-15 missiles with ramjet engines, essentially a copy of the European MBDA Meteor missile, can be particularly threatening.
If Iran acquires these aircraft along with an armament package, then along with the delivered Su-35s, they could become a much greater threat to Israeli aviation in the next few years than they are currently.
