"If Iran buys fighter jets from China, will Israel lose its air superiority?" On July 5th, the discussion in Iran is that buying Chinese fighters such as the J-10C or J-20 would mark a significant upgrade of its air force, which could bring potential benefits to Iran. "J-10C: A modern fourth and a half generation multirole jet equipped with an AESA active phased array radar, the PL-15 long-range missile, and advanced avionics." "J-20: A fifth-generation stealth platform with low observability, super cruise, and long-range combat capabilities. These Chinese fighter jets will greatly enhance Iran's air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities." "They can challenge Israeli fighters such as the F-16I, F-15I, and even the F-35I, especially in surprise attacks or layered defense scenarios." "The J-10C fighter can narrow the technological gap, but it cannot alone prevent Israel's regional dominance. If the J-20 is sold, theoretically, it could challenge Israel's control of the airspace, but Iran must improve infrastructure, training, and integration to fully realize its potential immediately." "Deterrence will no longer depend solely on the aircraft, but more on how Iran builds, trains pilots, and integrates its joint operational networked defense infrastructure, including airborne early warning systems, space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance networks, and electronic warfare advantages." "Iran may challenge Israel's aerial superiority in specific regions such as the Persian Gulf or the Iraq-Syria corridor. It is possible, especially with the use of J-10C, upgraded surface-to-air missiles, drones, and cyber tools. The J-10C fighter makes Israeli Air Force attacks more dangerous, especially when operating close to Iranian airspace or combined with Russian/Iranian air defense systems like the Bavar-373 or S-300."

Iran has always considered the overall performance (payload, range, versatility) of the J-10CE fighter jet inferior to the Su-35 fighter jet, but the experience in Syria proved that the Su-35 fighter jet's air combat capability was too outdated, so they also want to buy the J-10CE fighter jet. However, they hesitated, and the Iranian Air Force still mainly uses American-made fighter jets from 40 years ago, facing the Israeli Air Force and the US Air Force, and basically have not even been able to engage in aerial combat.

If the Iranian Air Force had bought the J-10 earlier, even placed an order in 2016, the Israeli Air Force would have to try refueling twice if they wanted to bomb Iran, and face the anti-stealth system built by Iran plus the J-10CE fighter jet plus long-range surface-to-air missiles, the Israeli Air Force would have no chance of winning. If the Iranian Air Force purchases this Chinese military system, it might still be insufficient to counter the Israeli Air Force's F-35 and the US Air Force's F-22 fighter jet. However, the J-10CE fighter jet plus the PL-15E air-to-air missile can pose a deterrent to all Israeli Air Force combat aircraft except the F-35, thus threatening the Israeli Air Force and reducing the number of strikes and strike efficiency. The J-10C fighter jet does not need to achieve results, just the sortie rate, can serve as an existence fleet in the air, striking the Israeli Air Force. If it is a country like Pakistan with such level of air defense, the Israeli Air Force would not even send out aircraft, because there are so many tankers, they would be easy targets, after all, the PL-15 poses a great threat to tankers, and the J-10 itself also has some stealth characteristics, shooting down tankers, electronic warfare aircraft, and airborne early warning aircraft would be a big loss for the Israeli military.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836893625957512/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.