Point of Clarification on Ahmadinjad's Speech

metro

New Member
Ahmadinejad said, "The US has refused to sell Civilian Airlines or parts for them for 40 years." I'm not an expert on how long a 747 can last with no new parts, but he made a big media scene of boarding one (Labeled "IRAN"), in his flight from Tehran to NY. Why the need for civilian aviation parts? The plane worked fine! Either they have domestic industry producing these "needed" parts that haven't been sold to them "for 40 years," or they like buying American so much, Iran is buying American 2nd hand.

Perhaps, Ahmadinejad was complaining more about US refusal to sell parts for Military aircraft... his next stop is to visit Chavez (who has a similar problem).

Did Ahmadinejad just mess up his speech, and actually mean "Military Parts"?
 
Ahmadinejad said, "The US has refused to sell Civilian Airlines or parts for them for 40 years." I'm not an expert on how long a 747 can last with no new parts, but he made a big media scene of boarding one (Labeled "IRAN"), in his flight from Tehran to NY. Why the need for civilian aviation parts? The plane worked fine! Either they have domestic industry producing these "needed" parts that haven't been sold to them "for 40 years," or they like buying American so much, Iran is buying American 2nd hand.

Perhaps, Ahmadinejad was complaining more about US refusal to sell parts for Military aircraft... his next stop is to visit Chavez (who has a similar problem).

Did Ahmadinejad just mess up his speech, and actually mean "Military Parts"?
He was talking about spare parts for civilian aircraft. My guess is they are buying what they can't produce on the black market. Also, they might have cannibalized a few aircrafts.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Why the need for civilian aviation parts?
All aircraft parts are to be considered dual-use items. Meaning neither new Boeing nor Airbus aircraft or parts thereof can be delivered to Iran right now.

The Iranian Government and the Iranian Airforce operate 7 Boeing B737/B747 with build years 1970-1975, roughly.

Now, if you look at the civilian airlines, these are actively switching over to "non-US/EU" aircraft lately. Iran Air and its subsidiaries are in the process of renewing their fleets by leasing Airbusses (from Venezuela!), buying Fokkers from third-nation license producers, and buying and leasing considerable amounts of Il-96, Tu-154M and Tu-204. Other, more regional airlines, still operate considerable Airbus/Boeing/Fokker fleets as well, but recently of course only acquire from other companies such as Tupolev, Embraer or Antonov.

The reason that there are Boeing/Airbus fleets at all is that brands are considered the "standard" for international/intercontinental flights still, and there isn't much of a competition, other than maybe Tupolev, and that's not much competition seriously on this market.
If Iranian Airlines want to stay competitive, they at least need a feed of Boeing/Airbus spareparts to keep their 40+ aircraft of these brands flying.
 

SABRE

Super Moderator
Verified Defense Pro
Iran is producing Ir.an-140 aircrafts (Ukranian An-140). They plan to build & induct 80 of these aircrafts. I don't think they are inducting fokkers. Requirement for a large civil aircraft however remains open.







 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
I don't think they are inducting fokkers.
Some 20+ Fokker F100s have been bought/leased by Iranian airlines just over the last 4-5 years.

It's somewhat easier with those since afaik there are licensed parts supplies and such for Fokkers in South America, for example (TAM?).

The IR.AN-140 (sic) would mostly replace regional airliners in use right now, like the ATR-72 or Fokker F50. For civilian airlines anyway. A certain number of those 80 aircraft will go to the military though.
I think there have been talks of co-producing the Tu-334 (follow-on to Tu-134) as well, but those didn't pan out (yet).

For larger aircraft, Russia has recently agreed to sell some Tu-204 to an Iranian airline (Iran Haseman Air?). Delivery in 2008.
 
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