Less than a month after IranDeal was signed, China’s Chengdu company has signed a $1 billion deal to sell 24 fighter jets to Iran in exchange for crude oil from the Azadegan oil field.
The J-10, known as the “Vigorous Dragon” aircraft, is the first arms deal to be signed with the Islamic Republic since the accord with the U.S. and world powers in July. This is a single-engine aircraft with a range of 2,940 kilometers, each at an estimated cost of US $40 million.
Iran thus becomes the second overseas user of Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group’s J-10 fighter without having to pay a single dime.
Pakistan is the first overseas customer to purchase the Chinese fighter jet, in a $1.4 billion deal negotiated in 2009. Delivery has yet to be made, however.
Instead, the contract signed by Tehran and Beijing allows China to exploit Iran’s largest oil field over the next 20 years, according to the Want China Daily newspaper.
Iran said in a release that it intends to use the jets to protect its nation’s air space and to attack targets around the Persian Gulf.
The fighter jet was allegedly developed with Israeli technology, – although officially denied – after China received drawings and production rights to Israel’s Lavi aircraft. The Lavi was developed and built in the 1980s but the Israeli government was forced to shelve the project due to high costs and opposition from the U.S. Instead, the U.S. offered to sell Israel the advanced F-16 fighter jet; it was at this point the decision was made to allow the sale of defense materials to China instead.
Security experts in Israel and the United States view the sale with some concern, anticipating that Iran’s use of the aircraft may hamper the operation of foreign defense forces in the region.
Iran is building an extensive air defense system and it is clear the J-10 fits into that picture as a means of disrupting or attacking American combat aircraft, or those of its allies.
This is a double achievement for China, bringing in more work for its defense industries, and creating its first foothold in Iran, thus helping secure its status as a world power by making arms deals in the Persian Gulf.