Underground Airbase Hints At Iran’s Strategy

Iranian officially revealed the existence of a large underground air force base called ‘Eagle 44’ on Tuesday. Purportedly the first base of its kind, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that it would store fighter jets armed with long-range cruise missiles. Photos show Iranian personnel and U.S.-built F-4E Phantom II fighter bombers acquired before the 1979 revolution inside the facility.

Iran has previously released official videos and photographs of underground bases containing armed drones and ballistic missiles and made similar warnings about its capabilities to shield itself and retaliate against any attack. Eagle 44 is the first of its kind featuring fighter jets. It’s unclear if it is an expansion of one of those previously disclosed facilities. Iran has not disclosed the location of the new base.

IRNA’s emphasis on the fact that the jets are armed with long-range cruise missiles strongly suggests that Iran envisages using its older warplanes to target ground or naval targets at standoff distances in the event of an attack rather than for air defense.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Bagheri seemingly hinted at this when he used the occasion to warn, “Any attack on Iran from our enemies, including Israel, will see a response from our many air force bases, including Eagle 44.”

Iran’s state-affiliated Tasnim News Agency also reported the unveiling of a new homegrown Iranian air-launched cruise missile named the ‘Asef’ on Tuesday. It said the missile was built for use by Soviet-era Su-24 Fencer bombers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF).

IRIAF Su-24s serve in the 72nd Squadron. Described as “a specifically trusted cadre” of the air force, the squadron is a lead candidate for operating the new Su-35 Flanker-E fighters Iran expects to receive from Russia this year.

Tehran has previously publicized cruise missiles it has developed for its aging fighter fleet.

In January 2019, Iran publicly displayed its Qased 3 air-launched cruise missile, which Iranian media reported would be fitted on Iranian F-4Es.

In 2018, an official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force boasted that the paramilitary had ten Soviet-era Su-22 Fitter fighter-bombers, which had been hitherto grounded for 28 years, overhauled and modernized. Upgrades included the capability to fire cruise missiles with a purported range of 1,500 kilometers (932 miles).

The IRIAF had also reportedly fitted Noor anti-ship missiles on its F-4s, Su-24s, and F-14 Tomcats.

For decades, Iran has taken significant steps to shield its air force from potential enemy attacks.

On Sept. 22, 1980, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq attempted to neutralize Iran’s more advanced air force with a large-scale surprise attack modeled after Israel’s successful destruction of the Egyptian Air Force in the June 1967 Six Day War. However, learning the lessons from Egypt’s defeat in that war, Iran had shrewdly prepared by building several reinforced aircraft hangars. The air attack was a colossal failure, with Iraq losing more aircraft than it managed to destroy on the ground.

Its widely believed that Israel would first use its F-35s if it launches an air attack against Iran’s nuclear program. These stealthy fifth-generation fighters would primarily target and suppress advanced Iranian air defenses – especially long-range S-300s, locally-made Bavar-373s, and possibly S-400s in the future. Eliminating such systems would enable more heavily-armed Israeli F-15s, referred to as “trucks” given their heavy payloads, to carry out ground attacks, possibly using bunker busters and other powerful munitions.

Advanced Israeli F-15Is and the F-15EX Israel recently officially requested can carry an assortment of advanced weaponry, including up to 12 beyond visual range air-to-air missiles.

Given these technological-advanced capabilities and firepower, Tehran has likely concluded that much of its old fighter fleet would stand little to no chance of hindering such attacks.

Indeed, the very existence of Eagle 44 strongly suggests that these older Iranian fighters would remain parked deep underground until after such an air attack was over. They would then emerge and retaliate, likely against predetermined fixed targets such as military bases throughout the region, using their assortment of long-range cruise missiles to supplement simultaneous strikes with ballistic missiles and drones.