IRAN SU-35S ACQUISITION MORE DANGEROUS THAN THE WEST PERCEIVES

Shocking! Iran able to house advanced Russian jets in an underground base

BY HUGH FITZGERALD

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/02/iran-will-be-getting-24-top-of-the-line-russian-fighter-jets;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Grateful to Iran for supplying it with 1,450 armed drones, Russia has returned the favor. Iran has announced that Moscow intends to supply Iran with 24 Su-35s, which is one of Russia’s most advanced fighter jets. Until now, Iran has had to make do with the American planes left over from the Shah’s reign, an aging fleet, difficult to keep flying because it is hard for Iran to get spare parts, or to cannibalize them from the planes it has. These planes and their pilots t would be no match for the planes flown by Israeli pilots. More on these Russian jets and Iran’s underground airbase can be found here: “Iran Set to Upgrade Fighter Fleet with ‘State-of-Art’ Russian Jet,” i24 News, February 18, 2023:

Iran appears assured of soon receiving a shipment of one of Russia’s most advanced fighter jets, which would mark the most significant upgrade in decades to the Islamic Republic’s aging fleet, the New York Times reported on Saturday {Feb. 18].

In the past few months, Iranian officials publicly touted the purchase of 24 Su-35s, a state-of-the-art military jet produced by Russia, including in propaganda materials showcasing a new underground Air Force base called “Eagle 44.” The NYT report was based on digital analysis of one such propaganda video by a former US government imagery analyst, as well as on analysis of satellite imagery.

It’s quite a feat to build an underground air base. Iran has plenty of experience in building facilities deep underground. It was forced to do so because of Israel’s highly successful campaign at destroying above-ground nuclear facilities, including those where centrifuges were built to enrich uranium to close to weapons-grade purity. The Iranians built their most recent nuclear facilities deep underground at Natanz, and deep inside a mountain at Fordow. But an air base capable of holding two dozen large fighter jets, with enough space for them to safely maneuver without hitting other planes, must be enormous.

The report concluded that the base had a mockup of the Su-35 jet, apparently to make sure that the base is ready for the reception of the real artifact. “These are likely being used in assessing clearances for maneuvering the aircraft throughout the underground facility and could suggest they’ll be based here,” according to the analyst cited by NYT.

Regime media said the Eagle 44 base was one of the country’s most important military facilities, and would soon be home to fighter jets equipped with long-range cruise missiles.

This comes amid heightened western and Israeli concerns over the deepening two-way military cooperation between Iran and Russia, and its implications for the security and stability of eastern Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. Another area of concern is Iran’s nuclear escalation and Tehran’s lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The cooperation included Iranian manufacturers supplying Russia with drones used to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure.

The Iranian drones are used by the Russians primarily to hit civilian targets in Ukrainian cities. The Ukrainians were naturally grateful when the Israelis destroyed an Iranian drone manufacturing plant near Isfahan in January. And the Israelis were glad to take out a plant making weapons that have been so effective against Ukraine. For many months, the Ukrainians have been imploring Israel to send them its anti-missile defense systems, including the incredibly successful Iron Dome. Israel has been unwilling to comply because Russia has made clear that if Israel were to supply such weapons to Kyiv, Moscow’s “deconfliction” agreement with Israel in Syria, whereby Russia has been allowing Israeli pilots the freedom to attack Iranian and Hezbollah bases at will, would come to an end. Though the Israelis have sent hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid, as well as set up and staffed a field hospital, they have made clear that while they support Ukraine, they cannot supply the kind of weaponry Ukraine has requested, including all offensive weapons as well as the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Supplying Ukraine with such weapons, Israel fears, would trigger Russian reprisals in the Syrian theatre. The Russians would no longer allow Israeli planes the freedom to bomb Iranian and Hezbollah sites at will.

“What’s beginning to emerge is at least the beginnings of a full-fledged defense partnership between Russia and Iran, with the Iranians supplying drones to the Russians, which are killing Ukrainian civilians as we speak today, and the Russians beginning to look at ways in which, technologically or technically, they can support the Iranians,” CIA Director William Burns said in September.

What is not known is how deep underground the Eagle-44 air base has been built. If it is deep enough, Israel will be unable to destroy it with the ordnance that the IAF currently possesses. But just as Russia is helping its ally Iran by supplying it with SU-35 fighter jets, America should be helping its ally Israel by supplying the wherewithal for Israel to destroy that Eagle-44 underground airbase, along with those top-of-the-line Russian jets parked inside that base. That means the U.S. should be willing, after years of turning down requests from Jerusalem, to supply it with what will be for Israel the most important weapon in its arsenal. That weapon is the T GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which is a precision-guided, 30,000-pound (14,000 kg) “bunker buster” bomb used by the United States Air Force. It is this bomb, or perhaps several of them, that will enable the Israelis to destroy Iran’s underground air base Eagle-44 and its fleet of two dozen Russian Su-35 fighter jets.

Israel will do the heavy lifting. It will carry out the attack on the underground airbase by itself. But it needs those 30,000 pound MOPs that only the Americans can supply. Don’t hold back, Washington. Do the right thing.