(War Is Boring) Paul Iddon - On Aug. 21, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sat in the cockpit of what Iran described as a new, domestically-built fighter jet. Except the aircraft in question was conspicuously an F-5F, one of the 17 Iran bought from the U.S. during the rule of the Shah. Tehran took an old, very well-known jet fighter and claimed it was a new one, in full view of domestic and international audiences that would know better. American-made planes dating from the 1970s remain the backbone of the Iranian air force, together with 10 Soviet Su-22s flown from Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force to Iran during the 1991 Gulf War to avoid destruction. Iran had a chance to buy 30 sophisticated Su-30 fighters from Russia but opted not to, probably because the Revolutionary Guards have never been comfortable with the regular Iranian military becoming too powerful.
2018-09-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive