Iran’s military strength

Posted on 06 November 2009.

An Israeli flag is burned in front of a mosque in Tehran Friday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran already has a missile armament capable of wreaking havoc, but its air, sea, and ground forces are out of date and badly in need of maintenance, according to a survey of websites devoted to military topics.

Iran owns one of the largest missile inventories in the Middle East and has developed an infrastructure capable of building missiles indigenously, according to NationMaster, a website specializing in military data and analysis.

Iran recently flight-tested the Shehab-3 missile, capable of reaching Israel, and there are reports about the development of even longer-ranged missiles. But at least two sources are not unduly alarmed.

Iran’s capabilities in missile production have kept in line with its doctrine of protection against regional threats, according to NationMaster.

Jane’s Defense Weekly agrees with this assessment:

Iran’s chemical weapons and ballistic missiles, and possibly its nuclear weapons program and biological warfare capabilities, are meant to deter opponents and gain influence in the Persian Gulf region,according to that publication–the acquisition and creation of these various weapons systems can also be seen as a response to Iran’s own experience as a victim of chemical and missile attacks during the Iran-Iraq War.

GlobalFirepower, another military statistics website, which cites the CIA as one of its sources, ranks Iran 18th in military power worldwide behind Turkey (10), Israel (11), Pakistan (15), and Egypt (17) but ahead of Saudi Arabia (24), Iraq (37), Afghanistan (40), and Lebanon (42).

According to this site, Iran’s defense budget was $6,300,000,000 and it currently has 540,000 active military personnel.

GlobalFirepower offers this catalogue of Iran’s military equipment, as of 2006:

Navy: 3 frigates, 3 submarines, 5 mine warfare craft, 140 coastal patrol craft, and 13 amphibious craft.

Army: 1,613 tanks, 640 personnel carriers, 2,010 towed artillery, 310 self-propelled guns, 876 multiple launch systems, 5,000 mortars, 75 anti-tank guided weapons, and 1.700 anti-aircraft weapons.

Air Force: 84 aircraft and 84 helicopters.

The army comprises about 350,000 men, including 220,000 conscripts, according to the Haaretz daily newspaper of Israel. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards, viewed as the most loyal guardian of the ruling system, has another 125,000 men. The army was organized into four corps in 2004 with 4 armored divisions and six infantry divisions.

Jane’s Defense Weekly estimates that Iran’s Air Force is composed of 290 combat aircraft with a high percentage of older types probably unserviceable. There could be 50 ex-US aircraft in this category plus about 40 helicopters.

A large number of Iran’s tanks are elderly British-made Centurions and US-made M-60s, according to Haaretz, and some of the tanks’ serviceability may be in doubt.

Jane’s Defense Weekly offers this overall assessment of Iran’s military:

"Iran’s armed forces are limited, despite their size, by a very poor maintenance record caused by lack of spare parts and very poor training, There is little doubt that, at the moment, Iran is not capable of presenting any credible external threat and conventional force projection is almost certainly limited to within its own borders."

But Jane’s Defense Weekly is less upbeat about the prospects of a nuclear-armed Iran:

"There remains the fear that Iran is in the process of building a nuclear capability that, if it came to fruition, would pose a serious threat to the stability of the Persian Gulf region." How credible a threat is Iran’s military? October 11, 7:15 PMStaten Island Independent ExaminerJohn Signoriello