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China hesitant over J-10C barter deal with cash-strapped Iran

That's true sir. They suggested it but Iran refused almost 3 years ago. Currently airforce is on second priority based on Iranian military doctrine which considers missile power as its top priority. Why J10 doesn't meet Iranian requirement is because of the fact that they have short range and to have a good punch with J10, you need at least 250 of them, something between 250 to 400 at maximum. Iran is not China to have such a Deep Pocket, we cannot afford it.
Therefor given Iranian doctrine, airforce plays defensive role. In fact we want them as a defensive layer which covers most of our coastlines along Persian Gulf. A fighter that can easily patrol Persian Gulf without needing refueling for multiple times. A fighter in the class of J16 and SU30. These capable fighters do have an eyecatching anti ground capability and given the license conditions of J16, the only available option is SU30 and that with TOT. Iran would refuse even SU30s without TOT and the defense ministry has already announced it. The plan is buying 3 to 5 squadrons directly from Russia and manufacturing similar number of them locally. Otherwise, without TOT, Iran better to spend that money on homemade platforms. It just needs time and we are capable of doing that.
SU30's techs are old and can easily be dismantled by Saudi Arabia's F15 or Turkey/Israel's F16's. China's decision to sell fighter jets will be politics and China needs to walk a tight rope with Iran on one end and Saudi/Israel on the other. That known, J10C would be a balanced political bet because J10C's are capable of defending Iran (China is much larger in land area and J10 was originally designed to engage invading enemy jets) but not enough to threaten Israel with its shorter range. So the US and Israel might be okay with this deal. As for Saudi, they will be getting some F35 and they are not interested in attacking Iran. If they did, they would have already with Iran's obsolete F14 fleets.

Other than 5th-generation F35 and F22, J10C's are the best bet Iran could get (J16, Rafale, F22, and F35 are not on the menu for Iran). J10C has proven it could beat J16, Su30, and Su35. If properly deployed and used, J10C will be able to guard Iran's air space short of a mass invasion of Israel F35's. JF17 are under power and could not handle the region's F15 or upgraded F16's. Iran is not a poor 3rd-world country that needs to settle for JF17. Hell iran could buy F35 or F16V if they are on the menu.

I think China will sell J10C with the request that Iran tones down its war rhetorics against Israel. Afterall, Iran's primary objective is to develop its tattered economy.
 
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Purchasing of SU-30 beside locally developed fighter jets.
I don't say J10 is inferior, it doesn't meet our requirement. Plus it doesn't add any edge against our adversaries. At best its on par with new blocks of F16, that's not what we want. We need a heavy Multi role fighter such as SU30SM and an stealth platform currently under development and when the national turbofan engine is prepared, Iran will unveil its turbofan powered stealth fighter jet.

What is your requirement?
SU-30 is old tech, it can not head to head with F-16V with AESA, meanwhile J-10C is one of the most modern fighter with AESA and some stealthy features; it has edge againts Viper, and during PLAAF exercise it always beat SU-35, the more capable fighter than SU-30.
 
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SU30's techs are old and can easily be dismantled by Saudi Arabia's F15 or Turkey/Israel's F16's. China's decision to sell fighter jets will be politics and China needs to walk a tight rope with Iran
Nope, SU30SMs are not only new standard but also on par with SU-35 and American F35s.
Iran's intention is countering American aggression, a fighter jet that possesses long range radar beside long range operation capability. J10 lacks them both.
Moreover Iranian F14 fleet are completely updated in terms of avionics and also the engine parts, other than airframe, its a new fighter jet. The radar is upgraded, the engines are completely upgraded with new subsystems.

For Israel, Iran has its forces stationed at Lebanon and Syria. Why would you send fighter jets to bomb them while having your boots on their borders. Israel is completely surrounded no need to count on Chinese or other jets to bomb them.

What is your requirement?
SU-30 is old tech, it can not head to head with F-16V with AESA, meanwhile J-10C is one of the most modern fighter with AESA and some stealthy features; it has edge againts Viper, and during PLAAF exercise it always beat SU-35, the more capable fighter than SU-30.
Sir, SU30SM is not old tech. SU30MKK might be old tech but the ones that Iran wants to buy enjoys new Standard. The ones that Russia deployed to Syria in order to counter F22 and F35 of USAF cannot be old tech fighter jets.
 
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Nope, SU30SMs are not only new standard but also on par with SU-35 and American F35s.
Iran's intention is countering American aggression, a fighter jet that possesses long range radar beside long range operation capability. J10 lacks them both.
Moreover Iranian F14 fleet are completely updated in terms of avionics and also the engine parts, other than airframe, its a new fighter jet. The radar is upgraded, the engines are completely upgraded with new subsystems.

For Israel, Iran has its forces stationed at Lebanon and Syria. Why would you send fighter jets to bomb them while having your boots on their borders. Israel is completely surrounded no need to count on Chinese or other jets to bomb them.


Sir, SU30SM is not old tech. SU30MKK might be old tech but the ones that Iran wants to buy enjoys new Standard. The ones that Russia deployed to Syria in order to counter F22 and F35 of USAF cannot be old tech fighter jets.


SU-30SM and SU-35 is in different generation with F-35, they are not stealthy and radar is not AESA yet. There is no chance for 4+ gen fighter shoot down 5th fighter first in BVR engagement, unless you are lucky.

Like I said before, even compared to 4.5 gen J-10C, SU35 is still inferior, as J-10C has significantly lower RCS + AESA, better HMS and missiles; so if the SU30SM has the same capability with SU-35, it means also still below J-10C capability.

These are the references:
 
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SU-30SM and SU-35 is in different generation with F-35, they are not stealthy and radar is not AESA yet. There is no chance for 4+ gen fighter shoot down 5th fighter first in BVR engagement, unless you are lucky.

Like I said before, even compared to 4.5 gen J-10C, SU35 is still inferior, as J-10C has significantly lower RCS + AESA, better HMS and missiles; so if the SU30SM has the same capability with SU-35, it means also still below J-10C capability.

These are the references:
If you Ask me, the only stealth platform that has been ever built so far is F-22. Others are the wannabe fifth generation fighters.
So in aviation USA is number one considered as the inventor, Russia comes second and China in third place.
Russia sold China SU35s Thats true but it was an export version of it. Don't you expect Russians to sell their topnotch technology to anyone out there.
Obviously, J10 is a capable fighter in own class but not a vital necessity for IRIAF. When You put it beside F14s it will act only as a force multiplier, Not a game Changer. Moreover if not with TOT then its totally dismissed. People are arguing many things, online guessings, about Iran-China economic pact. But imho its just an economic pact with intelligence sharing and mutual projects. It would not include consider able defense deals.
 
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SU-30 is side step from our F-14 when it come to Air to Air combat (in fact it maybe somehow a down-step) so I doubt our air-force accept it and they are the one who must say yes so such deal can proceed
Yes IRIAF leaders will decide what to do eventually. We are the no bodies merely stating our point of view.

But a question, what options do we have other than Russian fighter jets?

I am all for homemade fighter jets, but the problem is with Rouhani admin its an impossible thing to see any progress in that field. It was planned to unveil the first national turbofan engine almost 5 years ago.
 
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If you Ask me, the only stealth platform that has been ever built so far is F-22. Others are the wannabe fifth generation fighters.
So in aviation USA is number one considered as the inventor, Russia comes second and China in third place.
Russia sold China SU35s Thats true but it was an export version of it. Don't you expect Russians to sell their topnotch technology to anyone out there.
Obviously, J10 is a capable fighter in own class but not a vital necessity for IRIAF. When You put it beside F14s it will act only as a force multiplier, Not a game Changer. Moreover if not with TOT then its totally dismissed. People are arguing many things, online guessings, about Iran-China economic pact. But imho its just an economic pact with intelligence sharing and mutual projects. It would not include consider able defense deals.
The only major advantage Russia still has over China is probably engine power and that's eroding. If you really rank overall fighter jet techs, Russia is probably 4th behind France and China. China has conducted many war games involving J10C, J16, J20, Su30, and Su35. Russian jets were crashed repeatedly. Recent wars in the ME and Armenia gave further black eyes to the Russian jets' capabilities. The weapons protecting Russia are not its jets now; it's land-based missiles and Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons if Russia were attacked.
 
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I think it is not possible. The airframes of these aircraft are old, the avionics are old, so there is no need to buy them. If it is some country that still uses MiG 21, maybe can buy .

Russia has a lot of Su-27s. they can sell them themselves.

Russia does not want to sell them. An Iranian PDF member (once the JCPOA deadline was passed so Iran could buy weapons) thought Russia would sell fighter jets to Iran, days after the deadline. We are passed that date by months and no sale of fighters yet.

The SU-27s are so old, maybe Washington won't throw a temper tantrum. That is the point.

Iran does not need 4th gen avionics, Iran can make them.
Iran does not need 4th gen radars, Iran can make them.

Iran needs engine technology. And flankers to copy. The sale of engine technology under the cover of a sale of old, useless SU-27 would be a great strategy.
 
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If you Ask me, the only stealth platform that has been ever built so far is F-22. Others are the wannabe fifth generation fighters.

Well this is not about what you or I believe, this is about fact. The fighter that have 5 gen feature : low RCS, internal weapon bay, supercruise, AESA, dan datalink, is not only F-22. Even if J-20 may not as good as F-22, it falls into that category.

So in aviation USA is number one considered as the inventor, Russia comes second and China in third place.

This is true 10 years ago, but already obsolete now.

As you have seen, Rusia second rank 4++ gen fighter SU-35 tech is behind China's 4++ J-10C and J-16.. Russia is not sucessfull yet with PAKFA while China has been sucessfull with J-20.

Russia sold China SU35s Thats true but it was an export version of it. Don't you expect Russians to sell their topnotch technology to anyone out there.

Rusia's best SU35 is still using PESA, not AESA; and the RCS is still the same.
So if this is true that SU35 sold to China is less capable, it must be with something else; but like I said: low RCS, AESA, and very long range missile like PL-15 is the key factor for J-10C to beat SU-35. As long as SU-35 RCS is bigger then it will be detected first than the otherway round.

Besides, why you expect Russia will sell the best and better SU35 to Iran while she was not willing to do so for China?


Obviously, J10 is a capable fighter in own class but not a vital necessity for IRIAF. When You put it beside F14s it will act only as a force multiplier, Not a game Changer. Moreover if not with TOT then its totally dismissed. People are arguing many things, online guessings, about Iran-China economic pact. But imho its just an economic pact with intelligence sharing and mutual projects. It would not include consider able defense deals.

Maybe not a game changer against Israel AF, but a game changer against other surrounding nations.
If it is more lethal than SU-35 or SU33SM, then obviously it will be the game changer rather than the SU.
 
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It didn’t take long for your post to become childish. Clearly you are out of your comfort zone and short handed.

Lmao, you started it, so don't complain when its dished back to you.

Which “international oil prices”. You keep making up crap you have never had experience with. Have you even traded oil futures before? I have.

So which International oil prices are you talking about? Most prices that you hear in news is West Texas (WTI) or Brent Crude (Russia), but there are MANY prices out there.

You know exactly what I'm talking about, stop arguing in bad faith. You know for a fact I'm using laymen terms on purpose, and for you to try and use that as a "gotcha" moment just goes to prove how bad your argument is.

Why would Iran use WTI price when Iranian crude is substantially different from WTI? Iranian crude is based on demand from countries that have refineries to process it vs refineries built to process Saudi Oil vs Venezuela oil vs Brent vs WTI.

And how would China “be getting ripped off”? If WTI is trading around $60 right now that is within range since 2017 when it has traded around $50 up to $70.

The brief plummet in oil prices on Q1 and Q2 of 2020 was due to once a century panademic event and oil traders who were heavily shorting oil beyond reason. This caused price to plummet far below actual demand price. Once the dust settled WTI naturally rose back to its range.

Note: I quote WTI for simplicity of argument.

Average price of WTI

2021*57.79
202039.16
201956.99
201864.94
201750.88

So now using WTI as a barometer for oil prices for arguments sake, China would not be “getting ripped off”. If China wanted 2020 prices well that was due to a global shutdown and heavily shorted oil contracts by equity traders who were taking advantage of the economic situation to make $$$. And China actually would be getting a deal since Iranian crude is at a discount due to sanctions and less demand vs the more demand blends of crude out there on the market.

You don't even realize that you just made my argument for me, thanks for that.

Once again, I have to repeat this, if the article is to be believed then China does not need more oil, regardless of an oil discount from Iran or not. even if China agrees to it, with the talks between Iran and the US about Iran's nuclear problem and potential lifting of sanctions, or perhaps adding more sanctions to Iran as a pressure tactic, there is no evidence to suggest Iran's oil prices will remain stable or favorable. Even if they do, and China gets a good deal, what good is an over abundance of oil gonna do for China? I would rather get cash, not because I'm cash strapped, but because an oil barter simply makes little sense.

Again you continue sprouting off your erroneous OPINION without any facts to back you.
I am literally going off the article, while all you're doing is googling a few things here and there.

Saying that China needs 3B in cash to paid its reserves when it pays that amount to Iran literally every month is hilarious. Now if the arms deal was for 50B or 100B, you could make the argument that China doesn’t want to barter for such a large amount. But 3B? That’s a joke. South Korea has 8B in oil dues owed to Iran from last shipments alone.
Once again, you have zero clue on what forex reserves are used for, and your ignorance shows.

And once again, you're straw manning me, like I pointed out before, we're not talking about a sale of oil to China, that's a completely different contract, we're talking about bartering oil for defense equipment. They're not the same thing. It doesn't matter if the barter is worth $1 or $1 trillion, its not the same thing. Its disingenuous for you to suggest otherwise.

Anyway, I'm done here. Its clear you want to continue engaging in bad faith arguments, and I'm at the point that I just don't care enough anymore.


That notoric troll is just spouting ridiculous and unintelligent rethoric bullshit that suit his usual simpleton narratives i.e. that China is cashstrapped which fits into the usual China on the verge of collapse and therefore China bad/wrong picture.

The reality is that over the last year China simply bought and shipped more oil than most people can imagine and China could store when prices where rock bottom. Its pretty much common knowledge outside of Americas disinfo bubble, so Im not going to bother doing his homework. Thats where the comments about China not exactly hungering for oil taken out of context in the US state propaganda article come from. Its not about general lack of interest in Irans discount oil prices. Infact that has never ceased beyond US regime intervention. Not this typically disingenious leap of logic that China is low or in dire need of cash and denial of Chinas economic rebound because it wasnt covering up and prolonging countermeasures against Covid like the failure that is the US regime.

Obviously theres also the angle of denying Chinas energy security that comes with China sitting on massive reserves while paid US government shills are still running around suggesting that Chinas economy is collapsing because of made up energy shortages to fabricate a counter narrative to belittle and cope with Chinas retaliatory sanctions againsts hostile Australian elements hurting exactly the right peoples bum they are supposed to be.
If you're gonna insult me, do it directly, don't be a coward.

Your comment is nothing more than a giant strawman argument, not even worth addressing.
 
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Lmao, you started it, so don't complain when its dished back to you.



You know exactly what I'm talking about, stop arguing in bad faith. You know for a fact I'm using laymen terms on purpose, and for you to try and use that as a "gotcha" moment just goes to prove how bad your argument is.



You don't even realize that you just made my argument for me, thanks for that.

Once again, I have to repeat this, if the article is to be believed then China does not need more oil, regardless of an oil discount from Iran or not. even if China agrees to it, with the talks between Iran and the US about Iran's nuclear problem and potential lifting of sanctions, or perhaps adding more sanctions to Iran as a pressure tactic, there is no evidence to suggest Iran's oil prices will remain stable or favorable. Even if they do, and China gets a good deal, what good is an over abundance of oil gonna do for China? I would rather get cash, not because I'm cash strapped, but because an oil barter simply makes little sense.


I am literally going off the article, while all you're doing is googling a few things here and there.


Once again, you have zero clue on what forex reserves are used for, and your ignorance shows.

And once again, you're straw manning me, like I pointed out before, we're not talking about a sale of oil to China, that's a completely different contract, we're talking about bartering oil for defense equipment. They're not the same thing. It doesn't matter if the barter is worth $1 or $1 trillion, its not the same thing. Its disingenuous for you to suggest otherwise.

Anyway, I'm done here. Its clear you want to continue engaging in bad faith arguments, and I'm at the point that I just don't care enough anymore.



If you're gonna insult me, do it directly, don't be a coward.

Your comment is nothing more than a giant strawman argument, not even worth addressing.

At this point I don’t even think you know what you were arguing about. Quite hilarious. You didn’t prove your point (whatever it was since you keep moving the goal posts).

It’s best we don’t continue this conversation
 
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At this point I don’t even think you know what you were arguing about. Quite hilarious. You didn’t prove your point (whatever it was since you keep moving the goal posts).

It’s best we don’t continue this conversation
Nah, my goal post is right where it is, you moved the goal post. From the first comment to the last, my point is pretty consistent: China has no reason to accept this. YOU are the one making my comment a bigger deal than it actually is. You arbitrarily made strawman arguments to argue against, let's not pretend otherwise.

Okay, now I'm done.
 
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That's true sir. They suggested it but Iran refused almost 3 years ago. Currently airforce is on second priority based on Iranian military doctrine which considers missile power as its top priority. Why J10 doesn't meet Iranian requirement is because of the fact that they have short range and to have a good punch with J10, you need at least 250 of them, something between 250 to 400 at maximum. Iran is not China to have such a Deep Pocket, we cannot afford it.
Therefor given Iranian doctrine, airforce plays defensive role. In fact we want them as a defensive layer which covers most of our coastlines along Persian Gulf. A fighter that can easily patrol Persian Gulf without needing refueling for multiple times. A fighter in the class of J16 and SU30. These capable fighters do have an eyecatching anti ground capability and given the license conditions of J16, the only available option is SU30 and that with TOT. Iran would refuse even SU30s without TOT and the defense ministry has already announced it. The plan is buying 3 to 5 squadrons directly from Russia and manufacturing similar number of them locally. Otherwise, without TOT, Iran better to spend that money on homemade platforms. It just needs time and we are capable of doing that.
But the J16 is too aggressive and could easily provoke opposition from neighboring countries.A 12 ton payload is comparable to a medium bomber.
6159252dd42a283453ff024c7faa0eec14cebfc5.jpeg
 
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Nah, my goal post is right where it is, you moved the goal post. From the first comment to the last, my point is pretty consistent: China has no reason to accept this. YOU are the one making my comment a bigger deal than it actually is. You arbitrarily made strawman arguments to argue against, let's not pretend otherwise.

Okay, now I'm done.
Don't be emotional man. Iran doesn't want J-10 for plenty of reasons.

It is a fact that Iran and China have signed an economic pact, i don't think it will include fighter jets. Also it doesn't mean Iran goes for Chinese fighters while having Russian option on the table.

Iran has been working with Russia in Caucaus, Syria and possibly East of Europe. Two countries have a huge overlap of national interests and it will continue to bring them closer. Hence a military contract with Russia is most possible. So please stop this bilullshit about bertering shit.
 
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Iran has been working with Russia in Caucaus, Syria and possibly East of Europe.


The same Russia that doesn’t allow Iran to use its ports? The same Russia that blocked Syria from giving Iran a 99 year lease for a military base? Or maybe the Russia at the urging of UAE urged Assad to severe relations with Iran in return for reconstruction dollars?

Russia isn’t Iran’s friend, ally, or even business partner.
 
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