Iran to buy from China 24 fighter jets based on Israeli technology

[Purveyor]

Source: Haaretz

Iran has signed a deal with China to buy two squadrons of J-10 fighter planes that are based on Israeli technology, the Russian news agency Novosti reported Tuesday.

The 24 aircraft are based on technology and components provided to China by Israel following the cancellation of the Lavi project in the mid-1980s. The engines of the J-10 are Russian-made.

The total cost of the planes is estimated at $1 billion, and deliveries are expected between 2008 and 2010.
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The estimated operational range of the aircraft, with external fuel tanks, is 3,000 kilometers, which means Israel falls within their radius of operation.

During the 1980s, Israel Aircraft Industries, along with U.S. firms, developed a multi-role aircraft that was considered the most advanced of its type at the time.



Read more: http://www.haaretz.com:80/hasen/spages/916317.html

[DaveJ]

1. Irony:

Being threatened by weapons of one's own design. What comes around goes around.

[Jacobin]

2. Yep. When you peddle that stuff, its on the market

[burrowowl]

13. I hope Israel is getting

royalties!

[Andy Canuck]

3. Is it true or a

propaganda piece to up the call for war with Iran?

[Tempest]

7. It's probably true

Iran has been making weapons deals with China and Russia for some time now.

This is only newsworthy because the jets contain Israeli technology.


When you're the 8th largest arms dealer in the world, eventually some of your own weapons are going to make it into the hands of your enemies.

[PFunk]

12. It's true, just did a web search on it.

Check out Wiki on it. This thing is serous stuff and looks to be more than capable of dealing with current US fighers (that is if you don't count pilot training). Judging from this, and other stuff it brought Iran wont be a US cakewalk.

[allisonthegreat]

4. The global market interesting to see through what hands

the implements of destruction pass!

[HuffleClaw]

5. bwhahahahahaaa

should be hilarious to watch bush splutter and bluster about this.

fill in the blank. "Bush ____ the Chinese..."

1. warned
2. lectured
3. advised
4. begged
5. ...

[formercia]

6. Israel supplied AWACS technology to China

It's about time their greediness came back and bit them in the ass.

[fujiyama]

14. Did they in the end?

I remember the US objecting to it.

I gotta agree that their peddling of weapons is incredibly shortsighted. Something like this was bound to happen.

Politicians and decision makers don't read history. After all, look what happened to US stingers and all the military we left behind in Afghanistan in the '80s.

Oh well, this definitely is the definition of ironic. Although, looking back at it, the Israelis also facilitated the arms for hostages deal as well and some of the arms were routed through them.

[formercia]

15. Israel supplied arms to Iran

when they were fighting Iraq. In part it was protection money for the small Iranian Jewish population who want little to do with the Israeli Zionists. I guess Israel is willing to write them off judging by their rhetoric towards Iran as of late.

There's no telling what technology they gave the Chinese before the US put the kabosh on the program.

[regnaD kciN]

8. Where is Tom Lehrer when you really need him...?

This sounds like the material for a great sequel to such classics as "The MLF Lullaby" and "Who's Next?"

:eyes:

[Gloria]

9. More on Iran's recent military moves, including a new air base....

From today's World Media Watch at Buzzflash.com....


Iran: Military Flaunts New Capabilities As Tensions Rise (summary follows)

http://www.rferl.org/features/features_Article.aspx?m=10&y=2007&id=A9DAC1EB-47E3-46D2-B6CC-0A76F98C9B60

As tensions with the United States rise over Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional security issues, Tehran has been flaunting its military capabilities and asserting its preparedness in the face of a possible attack. In recent weeks, Iran has opened a new air base, unveiled new domestically produced military hardware, and issued defense pronouncements at a rapid-fire pace. ... At a military parade on September 22 to mark the 27th anniversary of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran, the Iranian military presented what it claimed was a new, medium-range ballistic missile.

The Qadr-1 appeared to be an advanced variant of the Shahab-3. A former director of Israel's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Uzi Rubin, noted that the Qadr missile "which appeared in the 2004 parade was then said to have a range of 2,000 kilometers". If those and other reports are correct, the Qadr-1 is capable of striking Israel, southern Europe and US bases in the Middle East. Just days earlier, Iran unveiled three prototypes of what it claims is a domestically manufactured fighter jet. The aircraft, called the Saeqeh (Thunderbolt), is the latest generation of the previously tested Azarkhash (Thunder) fighter jet. A joint product of the Iranian Air Force and its Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ministry, the Saeqeh has been described as similar to the US F-18 fighter jet. Iranian authorities say they have begun industrial-scale production of the Saeqeh. ... On October 9, Iran inaugurated a production line for the manufacture of a one-ton smart bomb called the Qadr. Fars News Agency reported that this bomb - a variant of the Qased (Messenger) smart bomb - is an optically guided, air-to-surface, long-range bomb that meets the Iranian Air Force's need for a powerful weapon. ... Also this month, Iran opened a new air base near its eastern border with Afghanistan. The base - named Qa'em Al-e Muhammad in a reference to Shi'ite Islam's 12th, or hidden, imam - lies in Birjand, the capital of the sparsely populated province of South Khorasan, and is about 1,300 kilometers from Tehran. ... In addition to these efforts to boost its military capabilities, Iran has taken steps to improve its passive defenses - such as radar and other detection - that might minimize damage in the event of hostilities with the United States or Israel.

[MGKrebs]

10. They'll have to return about a third of them.

And the rest will only last a year past their warranty.


I'm just sayin'...

[MadMaddie]

11. Wow ....it's amazing how * Diplomacy is working out for America...

So if * deceides to go to war...our planes will fight planes with Israeli Technology-from the country we are supposed to protect from Iran?

:wtf:

[hack89]

16. Nothing more than bright shiny toys

it does not give Iran a significant military capability - there are too few of them. When you also look at things like pilot training, command and control infrastructure, early warning radars, tactics, doctrine, etc it is clear the Iranians a have only made the first of many steps to get a meaningful military capability.