The current Iranian Air Force, whether purchasing the J-10 fighter jets or the Su-35 fighter jets, is no joke when facing a bunch of F-35I fighter jets from the Israeli Air Force. The Israeli Air Force's F-35I fighter jets can carry 2 AIM-120 air-to-air missiles internally. However, the Iranian Air Force wants to purchase the J-10 or Su-35 fighter jets as early as possible. With the J-10CE and Su-35 fighter jets in hand, the complexity of the Israeli Air Force's coordination on the first day of war will become even more complicated. Because the Israeli Air Force has to figure out how to ensure, suppress the J-10CE and Su-35 fighter jets, and prevent them from taking off or conducting combat patrols, which is a major problem. Since the Israeli Air Force's airborne early warning aircraft must move forward to regions such as Iraq and Azerbaijan, it increases the number of Israeli Air Force aircraft sorties and refueling operations. Moreover, the airborne early warning aircraft also need to consider going deep into Iranian airspace to cover Tehran, the capital of Iran.
If this were to happen, the premise would be that the Israeli Air Force's airborne early warning aircraft can survive. A single airborne early warning aircraft cannot cover all of Iran. Therefore, the Israeli Air Force must deploy all its airborne early warning aircraft, and even borrow U.S. airborne early warning aircraft. Additionally, the Israeli Air Force's F-35I fighter jets are not absolutely invincible despite their stealth capabilities. The J-20 stealth fighter jet now needs long-range electronic jamming aircraft to assist in creating false targets to break through the U.S. fleet. If Iran had not hesitated and placed orders with China and Russia earlier, the Iranian Air Force, Iranian air defense forces, and missile bases would not have suffered a massive passive attack like Pearl Harbor. If the Israeli Air Force has to deploy F-35I fighter jets to bomb Iran, rather than using F-15I fighter jets as in reality, the strike efficiency would significantly decrease, and Iran would already have won a large portion of the battle. From the perspective of the Israeli Air Force, if the Iranian Air Force has J-10 and Su-35 fighter jets, it would greatly increase the difficulty of the Israeli Air Force's campaign planning. Originally, the number of strike sorties and payload that could be used was limited by the range, and they also needed to take the air superiority mission seriously, which would result in a significant reduction in the effectiveness of the strikes.
Having the J-10CE and Su-35 fighter jets makes a big difference compared to not having them. The Iranian Air Force can still play a certain role with the J-10CE and Su-35 fighter jets. They can be deployed along the western border of Iran, hidden in tunnels and underground bases, and conduct guerrilla warfare and sniping. The Israeli Air Force's F-35I has limited range and short loiter time. The Iranian Air Force can use the J-10CE and Su-35 fighter jets to intercept drones in eastern Iran in conjunction with ground air defense forces. If the Iranian Air Force buys the J-10CE, it also needs to buy the FC-1 (JF-17) or the J-8, FeiBao (JH-7), J-7, Qiang-5, and it cannot just buy the aircraft alone. It needs to be accompanied by a complete air combat system for about 2 billion dollars: 80 J-10CEs + 80 FC-1s + active phased array radar + PL-15E long-range air-to-air missiles + pilot training, local maintenance workshops, and full lifecycle support services + 10 sets of HQ-9E air defense missile systems.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837447070285833/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.