After the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and the subsequent removal of that middle Eastern country sanctions in the information environment have become quite often to get data about the interest of Tehran to the Russian arms. In addition, it’s been over a month since the start of deliveries of the Iranian army anti-aircraft missile complexes (AAMS) s-300PMU-2.
And there was information that came on February 15 in Russia, the Iranian defense Minister Hossein Dehgan be discussed with Russian defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and possibly even with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the issue of purchase of weapons worth more than $8 billion, According to unnamed sources, Iran is interested in purchasing SAM long range s-400, multi-functional fighter su-30CM, coastal complexes “Bastion” (equipped with supersonic anti-ship missiles “Yakhont”), new combat training Yak-130, Mi-8/17 helicopters, diesel-electric submarines of project 877 and frigates. All listed equipment is one of the most modern Russian military products and corresponds to the task of rearmament of the armed forces of Iran, which, despite the large number, equipped with outdated weapons.
Especially problematic are the air force of the country — armed with a wide variety of aircraft, both American and French, and the Soviet supersonic interceptors F-14, the outdated fighters F-4 Phantom and F-5Tiger, Mirage F1, MiG-29 fighters, front-line bomber su-24МК, the su-25 and the like. In total, the size of the fleet exceeds 300 units, but at least 200 of these machines should be scrapped and replaced by new ones, as they already did not comply with the current conditions and aircraft of potential adversaries (e.g., Saudi Arabia). Serve while you can MiG-29, su-24МК and su-25, in which the repair (and possible partial modernization) of Iran is also interested. American F-14, though decommissioned from the air forces of the USA, but there is also could be, however, the manufacturer would not assist Iran in the renovation and modernization of these machines.
Given the multi-functionality, evolved combat power and cost of modern combat aircraft, Iran’s need for such planes as the su-30 is not less than 100 machines, and in the future and more. When you order such a number of these aircraft is quite permissible to expand licensed production on the customer site (as has been done India, having ordered a total of 272 su-30MKI) is very interested in the Iranian military, they do not hide.
With regard to air defense systems — the experience of cooperation: as said above, Iran has already started to receive s-300PMU-2, and in 2005-2006, the Tehran purchased from Russia SAMS short-range “tor-M1”. Equipping the air defense of Iran such a powerful tool, as-400, can seriously affect the balance of power in the region. Simultaneous delivery of both fighters su-30 and s-400, will allow Iran to securely close the skies against potential regional opponents — Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Getting new ships and modern anti-ship missiles and even give a serious superiority at sea over any of the Gulf countries (some advantage there now).
In addition to the above information, in the course of this year there is a discussion of the possible acquisition by Iran of Russian tanks T-90. Different Iranian military officials making statements that contradict each other, something that a tank of interest to them, that they didn’t need him due to designing your own modern tank “Karar”, supposedly not inferior to the Russian counterpart (which raises serious doubts). However, in the last statement, made on 15 February the Deputy commander of land forces of Iran Komarom heidari, said that Tehran has not abandoned the idea of purchasing T-90, but want to get the technology of its production (again- as India). While the Deputy head of Uralvagonzavod, Alexey Zharich said earlier that he was ready to deploy an Assembly production of T-90 in Iran. Thus, it is quite clear that modern “Karar” is only a means of pressure on the negotiations with the Russian Federation. It is possible that licensed production in Iran is deployed, but the order must be large, for example, at least 500 tanks. Given the obsolete tank fleet VS Iran is the number not so great (from 1600 existing tanks only 480 can be called modern).
Thus, if Iran do manage to sign these big contracts, the portfolio of export orders of the Russian military-industrial complex could grow by about $10 billion, which is almost 20% more than now (currently has reached a record level of us $55 billion). Given the obsolescence of practically the whole fleet of the Iranian military equipment and the need for large-scale upgrades, along with a desire to obtain licenses for manufacturing and technology, making Iran a partner who can be like a “new India”. Recall that India is the biggest buyer of Russian weapons — according to CANTO, in the period from 2006 to 2013 the share of Russia has supplied India arms worth $20 billion.
