London, United Kingdom (AHN) - Iran and Russia may sign a $1 billion arms deal that will deliver warplanes and aerial refueling tankers to the Islamic state, the London-based IranMania website reported on Tuesday.
IranMania said the deal will supply Iran with 250 Su-30 fighters, advanced and versatile two-seater warplanes that have a maximum flying range of 3,000 kilometers. The deal will also include the supply of aerial refueling tankers that will increase the flight range of Su-30 to 8,000 kilometers.
The aircrafts, which are to be delivered at the end of the year, will reportedly make Iran's air force at par with Israel's.
Jes' think of all the money we could make, Pooty Poot, if'n you sell shit to Iran and we sell shit to Israel and Saudi Arabia.... an' then we just stand back and watch'em attack each other...
Update: The Bush administration said on Monday it was selling arms to Saudi Arabia, so this must be a reaction to that. The Germans are not amused:
On Monday, the Bush administration officially announced its plan to provide advanced weapons worth billions to friendly states in the Persian Gulf in order to curb growing Iranian influence in the region.
Washington plans to sell $20 billion worth of satellite-guided bombs, and fighter and naval upgrades to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates over the next 10 years. A further $13 billion is pledged to Egypt, and Israel will remain, with $30 billion in arms aid, the greatest recipient in the Middle East of American largesse.
The German government's coordinator for transatlantic relations voiced his concerns regarding the plan in a radio interview on Tuesday.
"I don't see the point of arming the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia with more weapons," said Karsten Voigt. "The region is not suffering from a lack of weapons, but from a lack of stability."
5 comments:
How'n'hell is Pooty-Poot going to deliver 250 Su-30 fighters to Iran in a year when India has had about that number of Su-30 fighters on order from Sukhoi since 2002 and has only managed to take delivery of roughly 50 of them? Adding up what the Russians have managed to deliver to China, India, and a couple of smaller nations, I estimate they have the ability to manufacture roughly 35 Su-30's per year. That's it. And that's ramped up from the 15 per year that they were managing to trundle out at the beginning of the decade. If they struggled mightily, I bet they could ramp up to 50 per year. But that'd be a mighty struggle indeed. Maybe deliveries will start at the end of this year. But it'll take years to deliver 250 fighters to Iran.
Not to mention that the Su-30 is hardly magic. It's an updated two-seater version of the Su-27, basically a contemporary of the F-15. It's a big sturdy combat airframe that is surprisingly nimble for such a big bird, but the quality of the weapons load and avionics is what detirmines victory in today's air war. And the U.S. has a technological advantage there that even the best experimental not-yet-in-mass-production Russian gear can't match. The best Russian gear is better than what we've sold the Saudis in the past -- but the Israeli gear is so good that the Indians strip the Russian avionics out of their Su-30's and refit them with Israeli avionics the moment they come off the freighter. Somehow I doubt that the Iranian Su-30's are going to get the Israeli avionics that India's have gotten :-).
- Badtux the Jet Penguin
Wow! Thanks for the insights, badtux. I was reacting to the 'diplomatic' tit for tat. It certainly changes the tone of things when you realize that Russia really can't deliver. It melts down to: 'Oh Yeah? Well, I'll make a deal with Iran for one BILLION airplanes! How'z you like THEM apples?'
Just one more maneuver on the Big Oil chess board....
It's like they are preparing a battleground for themselves, a no-man's land of Iraq which they can all project their proxy forces into and fight for world supremacy. Can it even be stopped?
I only know that to promote the cause of peace cannot be wrong, however futile it may seem at times.
I do not believe Iran will initiate a war. I think realistically they know they are militarily indefensible against a nuclear power. We must stop the United States, and work to find peace in Israel.
I don't think Iran will initiate war, I think Cheney would in a heart beat (pun intended).
There would be no stopping the conflagration then....
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