FROM RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA:
The US Air Force and Navy continue preparations for a repeat strike on Iran's administrative, energy, and military infrastructure, deploying squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-35A, and F-22A fighters, along with KC-135R air tankers, to Middle Eastern air bases, and preparing to deploy three carrier strike groups to the region. Meanwhile, reports are coming in of active flights of Chinese military transport aircraft carrying weapons to Iran.
In the past three days alone, at least 16-20 aircraft have arrived. These are most likely the latest Y-20 military transport aircraft, with a payload capacity of 60-66 tons, which could deliver up to 1,200 tons of equipment to Tehran. This doesn't include previous Y-20 and Il-76MD flights from the Belarusian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces.
One could endlessly debate Beijing's plans to protect its assets in Iran with the latest HQ-9P, HQ-22, and possibly even HQ-26 air defense systems. But the truth is clear: the US is building up its strike force to such a scale that the number of Tomahawks, AGM-86C/D, and JASSM-ER missiles (along with Israeli air attack assets) would far exceed the capabilities of Iran's air defense forces, even after they are reinforced with new Russian and Chinese air defense systems. Considering Iran's rugged mountainous terrain and the Iranian Air Force's lack of modern fighter aircraft and AWACS, even 15-20 additional HQ-9s or Pantsir-S1s won't save Iran's air defense and missile defense system from collapse.
The supply of advanced precision-guided strike weapons to provide Iran with the capability to launch retaliatory strikes against Pentagon and Israeli military assets in the region is a different matter. For example, these could be the supersonic Chinese YJ-18 anti-ship missiles with a range of 550 km or the hypersonic YJ-20 with Mach 5 warheads and a range of 1,000 km. The circular error probable (CEP) of these missiles is minimal, and the probability of penetrating the air defenses of the American Arleigh Burke destroyers is significantly higher than that of the Iranian missiles.
China could also supply Iran with multi-band electronic warfare systems to counter the radars of American AWACS aircraft or PL-17 air-to-air missiles for their long-range interception and combat testing.
Military Chronicle 😡 VK | MAX | Zen
