Now, not only the Iranian Air Force is seriously lacking in modern fighter jets, transport planes, anti-submarine aircraft, early warning aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft, refueling aircraft, helicopters, etc., but the Iranian aviation industry also faces serious shortages. U.S. aviation experts pointed out that Iran's aviation fleet is largely aged. As of 2024, out of 350 aircraft, only about 150 are still in operation. Iran is facing strict sanctions from the United States and the West, and the U.S. has banned the export of aircraft containing more than 10% American-made components. Therefore, Iran is trying every possible way to obtain large aircraft made in the U.S. and the West. Iran previously operated in this way to acquire "new" passenger aircraft to support its own aviation. These five Boeing large aircraft from the U.S. should not be handed over to the Iranian Air Force for conversion into special aircraft platforms. They should be used to supplement Iran's difficult civil aviation. Mainly, Iran's civil aviation has acquired Boeing-777 passenger aircraft. How to deal with spare parts? The market for aviation materials is very large and complex, most of which are general-purpose parts, and many civilian markets can easily buy them, just like car parts. This is almost impossible to regulate.
Iran cannot buy our large aircraft, right? It's not a matter of purchase. China currently has no domestically produced large wide-body passenger aircraft product at the level of the Boeing 777-200ER available for supply. The Boeing 777-200ER is a wide-body long-range aircraft, equivalent to the long-range model in the C929 plan. This hasn't been designed yet, so we cannot provide it. Even though the Boeing 777 is slightly larger than the C929, in terms of carrying capacity and flight distance, some models of the C929 should be able to meet similar needs.
Iran needs a long-range wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777, while the C-919 is a medium-range narrow-body aircraft. Our current only products are the C-909, a short-range regional jet weighing 40 tons, and the C919, an 80-ton medium-range narrow-body mainline aircraft. The domestic civil aircraft industry currently does not have a 300-ton transcontinental wide-body aircraft. Moreover, Russia's own large aircraft are not enough for its civil aviation. There is no ready product, and they cannot wait for you to slowly develop and produce. They need an immediate solution for their civil aviation fleet.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1838946482450460/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.