Iran has a variety of anti-ship missiles, so they won't need the Qaher-313 for that mission, but imagine the psychological and real threat perceived by Attacking forces of 200 more airplane fighters in the sky, and stealthy too.
2 to 3 million was the cost of research they have said, not the cost of the airplane that no one knows yet. Given that they have already produced the Saeqa fighter plane ( I have recently seen a production video of the Saeqa ), the research was just to build on from there.
I do not think Iran wants to invest too much money to match any other non Iranian jet on the market, their own planes are not for sell, one can not know their performance and ability until he meets them in combat, suffice that the Iranian officials have said that it was a very advanced and sophisticated fighter plane. Do not expect them to give you its detailed characteristics, they have given the general ones.
It is not too small, if it has the size of a Saeqa, it can be a multi-role fighter like they have said.
As for war that was imposed on Iran, and the victims that you call kamikazes, than all soldiers are kamikazes if it comes to that. I think that famine and disease kill more Indians than that / year, so reality is that India should invest more money on that than on nuclear submarines and what have you...
So? You condone sending young men, conscripts into their deaths?
Do you really think that a country like USA would not take such things into consideration?
THINK:
1- They put the sanctions on Iran and forced the world to do so.
2- They are patrolling the entire Gulf region, seeing every movement in Iran through satellites and other spy systems.
3- They pressed Russia and China not to assist Iranian military progress in self-reliance to such an extent that even these two otherwise strong countries caved in.
Do you really think that they'll not take the 'quantity' perspective into picture considering that despite what the top elites in Iran claim or not?
First, Iran doesn't reveal its military capabilities which the Americans know is no matter what, not more advanced than theirs.
Second, investing into a technology that can preserve soldiers and at the same time win a war, is important.
Third, fighting a war of attrition with USA is useless. They won't even need to put boots on the ground. In a full-blown war, the best thing they'd do is recall at least three CBGs with their entire armada and a dozen other destroyers, launch their full aerial fury from their bases in Arab countries.
That's what they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Though Afghan strategy failed because of the nature of its conflict, what a potential US-Iran war would be, would be a conventional country to country war.
A war which USA has pioneered in.
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Bottomline is that personally, Iran should invest in technologies that can ensure sufficient protection of valuable pilots who will in turn someday lead Iranian Air Force.
It is difficult but considering the path the clerics have chosen of outright rejection of anything American, it will be something they have to do.
The other option is to tone down politically a bit and rather try to slightly mend ties with the West in general.
Iranians are not considered fanatic and are even admired in many western countries as being modern and far-sighted people --- something that Arabs, Pakistanis and other of Iran's neighbouring people are not considered as.
It is best that Iran follows a China-like strategy to build itself up.
China despises USA and if Mao had his way, US would have been sent to stone age with Communist missiles in the 60s itself.
But instead, Chinese chose to follow the Art of War.
They fed right into US heartland and have today taken a leading position.
Iran can do something similar but distinct given its own geopolitical circumstances and limitations.
But an outright confrontation would be foolish and wasteful.
The youth are the biggest resource any country has. Training them costs money, and lots of time. That should not go wasted.
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As for India, it is sad I know. Lakhs of them die every year. But these die separate from what the general population is, which is massive. More than 76% of the Indian population is under 25 years of age. Every year more than 80 million young men are combat fit to join military services if need be.
Being on PDF for quite sometime, you must be familiar with the geo-political compulsions India has, apart from a callous government.
Iran doesn't have so much demography and we're talking about a hypothetical confrontation between a superpower superior in every form of modern combat in today's warfare against a sanction-hit country.
Please understand the perspective from which I speak.
