DTN News: Iran Displays Military Muscle, Future Hints
Source: DTN News / Aviation Week
(NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, U.S. - April 24, 2010: Iran has packed its “Army Day” parade displays with new equipment, fantasy
forces and some worrying hints at the development of advanced capabilities.
“Both the surface-to-air missile equipment and stealth aircraft mock-ups [in the parade] are judged to be bogus,” a senior Pentagon official says. “During the parade they displayed two stealth aircraft mock-ups, one manned and one remotely piloted aircraft. They are likely [variants of] the Safreh Mahi (Flatfish or Stingray) [design], which Iran announced it was testing last February.
“The TELs [transporter, erector and launchers] and radar are also very poor mock-ups,” the official says. “The Iranians have traditionally used the Army Day Parade to display concept projects for public consumption and disinformation.”
The idea of Iran developing a stealth fighter or UAV is considered unlikely given the difficulties the country has supporting its dwindling force of U.S.-built F-5s, F-4s, F-14s and former Iranian fighters, U.S. Air Force specialists say.
Iran held its Army Day parade in Tehran on April 18. Included in the display were troops and equipment painted all in white and black — “asymmetric force white [and] black” — and examples of Iran’s full range of tactical ballistic missiles. In addition to the stealthy aircraft models, there was an improved, Iranian-made version of the U.S.- designed Hawk air defense missile.
The biggest surprise was trucks loaded with what appeared to be several canisters carrying Soviet-built S-300 advanced, long-range air-defense missiles. Russia had contracted for, but not delivered, a number of the NATO-designated SA-20 weapons.
An unclassified version of a classified Pentagon report to Congress on Iran’s military was released the following day. It contends that Iran could develop, build and test a ballistic missile with enough range to hit the U.S. by 2015. But the report also notes that the project would require substantial foreign assistance, and contends that Iran’s motivation for pursuing parallel nuclear and missile programs is to create a military deterrent against attack.
“Iran continues to develop ballistic missiles that can [reach] regional adversaries, Israel and central Europe, including … an extended range variant of the Shahab-3 and a 2,000-km. medium-range ballistic missile, the Ashura,” the report says.
The U.S. has had on-again, off-again success with intercepting long-range ballistic missiles. The cost and reliability of such interceptors is driving the Pentagon to quietly start looking at pairing advanced, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars — capable of finding small targets at long range — with new variants of longer-range air-to-air missiles. One possibility is Raytheon’s development of the NCADE (Network-Centric Airborne Defense Element) missile, which is a variant of the AIM-120 Amraam. It could be carried by upgraded Air National Guard F-15Cs assigned to the Homeland Defense mission.
Source: DTN News / Aviation Week
(NSI News Source Info) NEW YORK, U.S. - April 24, 2010: Iran has packed its “Army Day” parade displays with new equipment, fantasy 
forces and some worrying hints at the development of advanced capabilities.
“Both the surface-to-air missile equipment and stealth aircraft mock-ups [in the parade] are judged to be bogus,” a senior Pentagon official says. “During the parade they displayed two stealth aircraft mock-ups, one manned and one remotely piloted aircraft. They are likely [variants of] the Safreh Mahi (Flatfish or Stingray) [design], which Iran announced it was testing last February.
“The TELs [transporter, erector and launchers] and radar are also very poor mock-ups,” the official says. “The Iranians have traditionally used the Army Day Parade to display concept projects for public consumption and disinformation.”
The idea of Iran developing a stealth fighter or UAV is considered unlikely given the difficulties the country has supporting its dwindling force of U.S.-built F-5s, F-4s, F-14s and former Iranian fighters, U.S. Air Force specialists say.
Iran held its Army Day parade in Tehran on April 18. Included in the display were troops and equipment painted all in white and black — “asymmetric force white [and] black” — and examples of Iran’s full range of tactical ballistic missiles. In addition to the stealthy aircraft models, there was an improved, Iranian-made version of the U.S.- designed Hawk air defense missile.
The biggest surprise was trucks loaded with what appeared to be several canisters carrying Soviet-built S-300 advanced, long-range air-defense missiles. Russia had contracted for, but not delivered, a number of the NATO-designated SA-20 weapons.
An unclassified version of a classified Pentagon report to Congress on Iran’s military was released the following day. It contends that Iran could develop, build and test a ballistic missile with enough range to hit the U.S. by 2015. But the report also notes that the project would require substantial foreign assistance, and contends that Iran’s motivation for pursuing parallel nuclear and missile programs is to create a military deterrent against attack.
“Iran continues to develop ballistic missiles that can [reach] regional adversaries, Israel and central Europe, including … an extended range variant of the Shahab-3 and a 2,000-km. medium-range ballistic missile, the Ashura,” the report says.
The U.S. has had on-again, off-again success with intercepting long-range ballistic missiles. The cost and reliability of such interceptors is driving the Pentagon to quietly start looking at pairing advanced, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars — capable of finding small targets at long range — with new variants of longer-range air-to-air missiles. One possibility is Raytheon’s development of the NCADE (Network-Centric Airborne Defense Element) missile, which is a variant of the AIM-120 Amraam. It could be carried by upgraded Air National Guard F-15Cs assigned to the Homeland Defense mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment