I have a few comments to make. Actually, quite a few air forces in the region can sustain high tempo operations. For starters, USAF operating out of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,etc can sustain high ops and so can USN from its carriers. UAE is improving and has acquired the latest gen in fighters and have deployed for ops over Libya so they are getting there. SA should be capable but they need some help so I will give you that one. Egypt should be able to operate on a solid war ops but with the recent upheavals, maybe not. Israel has one the most modern air forces, training and world class aerospace industry, no problem with them operating at a high pace. Turkey is part of NATO and has conducted missions against PKK so they are good. Russia should be good,especially if we are talking war mission along their border. Both Pakistan and India have gone to war with each other and constantly train for real war. India also has trained with the Brits, French and USAF over Red Flag where they did real good. So quite a few countries in the region can operate/generate multiple missions day or night.
Countries that would have a hard time conducting war operations: Iraq,Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, maybe SA.....
As mentioned, bravo to Iran being able to operate such a diverse fleet but this shouldn't distract from the fact that no other air force in the world in their right MIND would operate such a crazy fleet.
It is a logistical nightmare, none of these fighters have anything in common
arts, ammo, operations, training,etc....NOTHING! One has to ask the question if this would be a real war, how fast would all these jets be grounded? Iran can operate these fighters during peace time and not tell no one how long after this exercise this jets can't fly for maintenance and need to find parts? Iran doesn't advertise their regeneration rate, curious to know after all this flying what happens? Is IRIAF pretty much grounded for a couple of weeks?
The other problem I have had since viewing these pictures is, as someone else mentioned, they would seem to be taken late 70s, earlier 80s. I follow daily Iran news and posts so I have had some time to make my own conclusions:
- Mig 29s are probably the most dangerous fighter the Iranians have but I seriously doubt they are to the latest Block and/or even close to Mig 35 quality.
- F4s aren't front line fighters anymore. They also are not even close to being upgraded to Turkey 2020 or Germany's ICE upgrade.
-F5s are at best advanced trainers, only useful to give rookie pilots confidence and build up hours.
-F14s are As and according to FlightGlobal Directory, Iran has 25. I think that is generous but no way they have 50 or 60 left like I read somewhere. Again, no upgrade Iran can give them will get them close to D version. They couldn't even start to get them there, they don't have the industry to create new engines like F110 or avionics or even missiles like AMRAAM or new AIM54s.
-Probably the most potent offense weapon would be the 30 or so SU24s. In proper hands, they could be dangerous.
Last but not least, what are the Iranian shows us? We see fighters dropping Snakeyes, firing rockets and guns. All very nice against static targets but we don't see anything resembling a JDAM or LGB being dropped. We don't see or here about coordination between these fighters. Modern air warfare has moved on from what Iran is showing us. Where are the PGMs, cruise missiles, datalinks, modern tactics, UAVs, stealth,etc....???? It takes quite a lot of new technology these days to wage war plus all the systems have to work together and personnel needs to be properly trained. What we see from Iran is at best is a bunch of "stuff" good for internal public consumption but very little in modern combat capability.
This is 2011, not 1977 where Iran still seems to be.