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Iran's version of warfare is quite different and far more complex than the standard definition of asymmetrical warfare!
And it's not about belief in any specific type of tactic, rather, a threat assessment of your enemies capabilities and proper cost/benefit analysis of the weapons you are capable of procuring and knowing how to take full advantage of the capabilities of those weapons and devising successful tactics around them.
On paper against the U.S., except for maybe China & Russia the Air Forces of every other country on the planet would be a sitting duck! So what? On paper U.S. navy is also superior to all of Iran's Naval forces combined. Thankfully, wars aren't fought on paper!
And we didn't chose the U.S. as an enemy they chose us. It's the U.S. that has been obsessed with Iran not the other way around.
In a country the size of Iran IADS and SAM by themselves will never be sufficient and interceptor/Air Superiority fighters are most definitely required.
As for
AL-21F3 I personally believe that the Al-21's are great engines to reverse engineer and attempt to improve upon mainly because they are twin spool. However, I wouldn't put them on the F-4.... and although reverse engineering the F-4 air frame for R&D makes sense, taking to production does NOT.
Unlike the F5, the F-4 airframe has too many design flaws and Iran is more than capable of coming up with a far more capable design.
As usual, very good point, by Vevak.
I am not a fan of AL21, but I much prefer it than J79. It has non-afterburner thrust that is the same as the J79 afterburner thrust, hence huge "mission" capability improvement (better range with non-afterburner) and higher take-off weight (more fuel for the mission, hence range) with higher afterburner thrust. Overall AL21 has had slightly better reliability than J79. Iran knows this engine really well. They have used it for 30+ years, in Su24s, Su22.
I am more of a fan of R-35 (mig 23). I have seen this engine in Germany and talked to German engineers researching actu-table on these, and their comments about this engine and how it can be improved. They were so impressed by this engine. It is a 3rd gen engine similar as Al21, but has more thrust, shorter, and has upgrade path and in my opinion, the benefits "may be" outweighs the negatives, e.g. higher complexity and higher fuel consumption. Turbojet suits Iran as it has a lot less complexity, fewer parts, years of experience, and Iran can constantly modify it until it masters engine design and development, e.g. adding PCC, single piece fan, blisk, compression BCT, and a host of other modifications to test and play with. Since Iran is and will remain under sanctions, and it has a robust refinery capacity for jet fuel, then turbojet would be my choice of compromise for the benefits it gives Iranian AF.
The British and RR have done huge numbers of projects with regards to F4D. I heard someone say, about 60+. In fact they have a F4 with turbofan developed and used for years. They also had a few prototypes that had the tail chopped off, and converted to a delta wing. I heard they had a team working in Rugby (near Coventry, central England) in 1970s and part of 80s, working on F4 modification projects, some contributing to some of the design aspects of Eurofighter.
See attached photoshop-ed image.
As a Russian expert once said, " ... U.S. is foolish to want to pick a fight with Iran, as there is no need to make such an important country your permanent enemy considering Iranian culture of Never Forget, Never Forgive".
Israel who was behind Pompeo's drive to get Trump to assassinate Suleimani, wanted to achieve exactly that. U.S. military knew how stupid that was. CIA just loves murdering, they don't care. From 3,000+ rendition kidnapping after 9/11 (more than 2,000 were handed to Jordan and Egypt dungeon interrogation masters) and about 500+ sent to Guantanamo, and about 500ish were just interrogated and assassinated on the spot.
Iran has many enemies, within and without. Rohani (from what I hear from the inside) has been a nightmare for Iranian independence until the Trump put sanctions on Iran and his cronies couldn't export Euros into their bank accounts anymore.
Iran must trust itself as did China 30 years ago.
AL-21’s are great engines for Iran, sure it would
Be nice to be able to have AL-31/41, but AL-21’s domestic production would be a massive boost to Iran’s defense industry and allow for both medium and heavy fighter jets to be designed.
Once you have capable engines, radar, and armaments the rest is much easier.
100% ... agree completely. It is just LOGICAL.