How Could Iran Target an F-35? Majid Air Defense and Optical Detection

Using existing equipment to shoot down F-35s

How do we solve this problem?

You have to break big problems into small ones.

Then use the process of elimination to solve them.

How do you shoot down fifth-generation stealth fighters?

You cannot figure it out.

But once you break it down…

For example, how do you shoot down a plane?

That you definitely know.

And you can even infer by analogy.

Once you learn how to shoot down F-35s…

Is it not the same idea for shooting down B-2s?

You get it, right?

Let’s get started.

How do you shoot down a plane?

There are only two ways.

First, air to air.

A plane goes up and uses its onboard weapons to attack.

Second, ground to air.

Use air defense weapons from the ground to attack.

Which do we choose?

That is right.

Given the current situation,

the first option is not very realistic.

After two weeks of continuous, high-intensity air raids,

military aircraft parked in the open

are basically reduced back to parts.

Even if some can be preserved using mountain hangars,

the airfields are being watched like a hawk.

Even if they can get airborne,

the technological gap is just too big.

After all, Iran’s only active heavy air-superiority fighter

is still the F-14 acquired in the Pahlavi era.

Grab any one at random,

the airframe is at least forty-eight years old.

And it cannot get original factory, on-schedule maintenance.

How can it not break down?

So they can only go for ground to air.

There are also two options.

One is to use anti-aircraft guns and other tube weapons.

The second is to use missiles.

For example, the S-300 imported from Big Brother’s country,

and the domestically developed 822-373.

They are all very large.

The missile launchers and fire-control radar,

control cabins and so on are all separate.

You need multiple vehicles to make up a full system.

It takes a long time to deploy and is an obvious target.

When they move out, it is a huge convoy.

Under conditions of air inferiority,

their survivability is very limited.

After Iran went through the earlier rounds of conflict,

it took quite a few losses as well

and began moving toward smaller, distributed systems.

Just a few months before this round of conflict,

the Majid short-range air defense system entered mass service.

It uses a light off-road vehicle chassis.

The whole system is very simple.

Two people can drive it around,

and complete launch, reloading, and related operations.

It is equipped with passive infrared-guided

short-range air defense missiles.

Maximum effective range is eight kilometers.

It is not equipped with radar,

but uses an electro-optical system

to track and lock on to aerial targets.

Friends have often said before,

“So stealth fighters are not really stealthy,

I can see them with my own eyes.”

Because their stealth is stealth against radar.

But an electro-optical system can fire as long as it can see.

And electro-optical search

will not trigger the enemy’s RWR warning.

It is very suitable for guerrilla tactics.

Its combat performance is also quite good.

A couple of years ago,

the Houthi forces used captured air-to-air missiles

plus civilian-grade electro-optical gear bought online

to cobble together some really wild

makeshift air defense systems.

Turned out they could hit F-15s across the board,

and kicking Apaches was no problem either.

In this round of conflict

American MQ-9 Reaper drones

and Israel’s Hermes and Heron drones

have had at least twenty shot down

and the vast majority were claimed by Majid

Under the right conditions

shooting down a slow F-35 “friendly fighter”

is not anything strange

But here is the problem

its range is too short, and warning time is insufficient

You need equipment with a longer detection range

to locate the F-35

First, radar

There are rumors that through mysterious means

they obtained anti-stealth early warning radars like the YLC-8B

and the JY-27A

That is impossible

There is absolutely no such thing

As for their own Arash-1

and Malek Asr and other long-range radars

their anti-stealth capability is limited

and they are few in number

They are probably gone as well

So what can they do

Using electro-optical detection might be the best way

Find some cheap, mature civilian equipment

and hand it down to frontline units

For example, electro-optical sensors with infrared modes

In civilian sectors worldwide like security and maritime

these are already quite common

very easy to find

and very easy to obtain

Of course

if you can find military-grade ones

that would be even better

Then each unit around its positions

deploys this equipment

for airspace detection

overlapping with one another

to form a distributed air defense network

Someone will say, “Wait a second

Lao Hu, you said before

that relying only on these”