What are Iranian capabilities ?

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Iran is no push over and there are some good threads here detailing that. The main thing is, Iran is a regional Super-Power, but regional is the key. They have a great air force for defense....in that region. They have a great Navy, if one considers it's largely built for just one purpose. Battle for control of the Hormuz Strait.

Countries like us built force to do everything well, and we spend more than the next several nations COMBINED to do it.

Iran specialized in two major areas. Logically, I'd say. Missiles and anti-air defense in a deviously decentralized system, given the doctrine they model after.

The biggest issue is, this is no Iraq. This is more like Israel in one Key area. Iran buys weapons out of convenience, not need. They have an advanced and mature domestic military production system that plugs away 365/yr and has been since 1979.

Just to add some fun for planners? Their nation is nearly 1/3rd ours for area (BIG) and they dig like moles on some industry.

The only truly HONEST answer to 'what do they have'? No one knows with certainty and we'll all learn at about the same time.

No, they are not a "Regional SuperPower", they are classed as a "Regional Power", that's like a pig amongst guinea pigs, I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a "Regional SuperPower", that actually makes no sense.
a "Regional Power" is a state that has power within a geographical region, important to the region, but not on a global scale.
a "SuperPower" is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests. A superpower is traditionally considered to be a step higher than a great power.
For instance, Russia is a "Great Power" and China, has been classed as a "Potential SuperPower" which is the first I had ever heard of, kind of like a grey area, like being between a Great Power and SuperPower.....
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I have complete faith that the Israelis would be more than a match for Iran, yes numbers aside, Zaphod is right about one thing that stands out most, Training.

Seems to be a discrepancy
from same site: www.globalsecurity.org...
On topic,a bit of fun: www.youtube.com...
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reply to post by all2human


Like I said, it's open source, so FlightGlobal may be off, because I saw a few that weren't listed. Personally I'd go with GlobalSecurity over YouTube any day.

if israel was given even 1 flying sauser by the you es they could use that alone to defend themselves.

It does look like we have various sets of numbers from which to choose, but the Global Firepower numbers seem vastly over-stated. I'm sorry to see that. It's a well-done site technically, but if they are this far off in Iranian aircraft, how far off are they on other measurements? I can no longer see them as being reliable without corroboration from other sources.

So I'm thinking the Iranian air force is in no position to inflict any substantial damage on Israel without getting wiped out itself. They have, incidentally, never said they would try. Their threats are of a missile barrage against Israel. They also, just today, condemned the use of chemical weapons by Syria.

In other news, it look like the two carriers in the Gulf are staying there for the moment. The Nimitz is further away from the Suez than it was last week, no longer hovering off the coast. This would indicate that they are not planning on sailing up the Suez to be off of Syria. The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group is still there, however, and will likely be replaced by the Boxer within a couple of weeks, which is in the pacific sailing toward the area right now.

France has sent a single ship into the area and the US has a squadron of destroyers. Russia says it will "refurbish" its forces in the Med shortly. This does not sound like an escalation. Some air force F-15s have been sent to Cyprus.

So the capability of the US, right now, is to throw some cruise missiles into Syria. B-1s could make it there and back, but right now that's about it. Of course, there's plenty of time to move more forces into the area, but the build-up here is rather low-key.

reply to post by schuyler


There isn't a need for a huge buildup. If you look in the right places, everything they need except for one platform is already in the area. And that one can fly from other locations and return to those locations easily.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by schuyler

 

There isn't a need for a huge buildup. If you look in the right places, everything they need except for one platform is already in the area. And that one can fly from other locations and return to those locations easily.

That's how I see it. The operation is fairly low-key. Launch some cruise missiles at some launchers. Don't risk any American lives. Call it good. I doubt they will even attempt to establish no-fly zones. This is more of a save-face operation because Obama established his "red line" on chemical weapons. So the US will be able to say, "Well, we did something just like you asked" but not enough to risk Iran raining missiles on Israel, especially since they have also condemned the use of chemical weapons. This amounts to a live fire target exercise for the Burkes.

reply to post by schuyler


There will be aircraft involved. You don't move 18 tankers into the area just to launch cruise missiles. If they hit there will be bombers involved as well.