Iran Has Long Lagged Behind Neighbors In Joint Fighter Jet Production

By Paul Iddon

The sighting of a Russian Su-57 Felon stealth fighter in Iran in late February 2025 was noteworthy for several reasons. One reason was that it served as an indirect reminder that Iran lags far behind many countries around it regarding the joint production of modern combat aircraft.

Satellite imagery obtained by The War Zone showed the Su-57 parked at an airbase in Iran’s Bandar Abbas coastal region on Feb. 19 and Feb. 21. The aircraft was returning from Aero India 2025, where the Su-57 notably made an appearance beside a fifth-generation American F-35 Lightning II for the first time, which President Trump has proposed India buy.

Russia is offering to build the Su-57 in India, claiming production could begin as early as this year if New Delhi accepts. The deal could include technology transfers to India, which Russia boasts could help India with the development of its indigenous, fifth-generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, AMCA, which India ambitiously hopes will enter service in the mid-2030s.

New Delhi previously pulled out of a co-development project for the troubled Su-57 in 2018 after Russia had refused to share source codes for the jet’s flight computer. However, Moscow may prove much more willing to share such things now.

India has produced the twinjet, two-seater Su-30MKIs under license locally since 2002, building over 270 in the intervening decades—Moscow claims upgrades to this established production line could facilitate local production of the Su-57. In a sign that India wants to keep its enormous Flanker fleet flying for the foreseeable future, it recently ordered 12 new ones to replace aircraft lost in accidents over the years and 240 AL-31FP engines for the existing fleet.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jet lands at the tarmac during Aero India 2025, a ... [+]

AFP via Getty Images

There are even prospects that India could export these license-produced Flankers. New Delhi finalized a deal in February 2025 to help Malaysia with maintenance for its modest Su-30 fleet. Armenia also wants India’s help upgrading its tiny fleet of four Su-30SM jets.

During the Soviet era, India invested heavily in the MiG-21, with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited manufacturing a total of 657 under license throughout the decades.

India isn’t the only powerful country near Iran with long experience co-producing aircraft.

Pakistan jointly developed and produced the single-engine JF-17 Thunder with its powerful ally China. It introduced the Block 3 variant in 2020, which boasts improved features, including radar. Pakistan recently won a deal to export an undisclosed number of JF-17s to Iran’s neighbor and rival Azerbaijan. Interestingly, Azerbaijani media speculated in February 2025 that the two countries may jointly manufacture that combat aircraft.

Pakistan's Air Force fighter JF-17 fighter jets fly past during the multinational naval exercise ... [+]

AFP via Getty Images

Incidentally, Pakistan’s retaliation for an Iranian ballistic missile attack on its soil in January 2024 conspicuously featured crewed fighter aircraft, aptly demonstrating how Islamabad has comparatively kept its air force up-to-date and capable while Tehran allowed its fighter fleet to decay in favor of ballistic missiles and drones.

Since the late 1980s, Turkish Aerospace Industries has built the venerable F-16 under license, specifically the Block 30/40/50 variants. In addition to building F-16s for the Turkish Air Force, which boasts the second-largest F-16 fleet worldwide, TAI also built 46 F-16s for Egypt in the mid-1990s. TAI is presently developing the indigenous next-generation TF Kaan stealth jet. Azerbaijan has also partnered with this project, and Arab Gulf heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are reportedly interested in joining.

SAMSUN, TURKIYE - SEPTEMBER 02: F-16 jets perform during the TEKNOFEST Black Sea, the Aviation, ... [+]

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The contrast between these projects and Iran’s lack of participation in any joint fighter jet development or production is striking. In the 1960s and 1970s, pre-revolutionary Iran built up one of the most powerful air forces in the wider region, with the sole exception of Israel. However, it did so primarily with off-the-shelf purchases and did not develop a substantial domestic arms industry capable of building fighters before the revolution. Still, its track record keeping sophisticated fourth-generation F-14s acquired during that period operational to the present day isn’t unimpressive.

Furthermore, Iran has technically built fighter jets, but these aren’t fourth-generation ones, as Tehran sometimes claims. In reality, these aircraft are little more than locally built derivatives and upgrades of the lightweight, third-generation F-5. These are not remotely comparable to the Su-30MKI, JF-17 Block 3, or TAI-manufactured Block 50 F-16s.

(Incidentally, Turkey’s TAI built the Hurjet supersonic light combat aircraft and jet trainer, which will replace the Turkish Stars aerobatic team’s F-5s. Similarly, Spain may soon replace its F-5s with that Turkish-built jet.)

Iran hopes to upgrade its aged air force in the near term by acquiring 4.5-generation Su-35 Flanker fighters from Russia. To date, it has only received a small number of subsonic Yak-130 trainer jets. Iranian media highlighted the Yak-130’s debut participation in Iran’s Zolfaqar exercise in late February 2025. During that exercise, a Yak-130 destroyed a target drone in coordination with two fourth-generation Soviet-era MiG-29A Fulcrum jets Tehran acquired all the way back in the early 1990s.

This picture released by the official website of the Iranian Army on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023, shows ... [+]

Associated Press

There are also recurring rumors on social media that Russia may allow Iran to produce Su-35s and Su-30s on its soil, although these remain unconfirmed and highly dubious. There has been recurring talk of Iran potentially following in India’s footsteps in locally manufacturing Su-30s for almost a decade.

It’s conceivable that one day, Iran—under leadership that prioritizes the regular armed forces over a paramilitary narrowly focused on building drones and ballistic missiles—can catch up with these countries by finally developing and producing modern fighters. But for now, absent fundamental changes in its current leadership, Iran seems destined to continually lag behind these powers on that important front for the foreseeable future.