Gourt Home::Gourt :: Equipment of the Iranian army
From 1925 to the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Iran used to be equipped with the very latest Western hardware. Cases exist where Iran was supplied with equipment even before it was made standard in the countries that developed it (for example the US F-14 Tomcat, or the British Chieftain Tank). Primary suppliers included the United States, Britain, France, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), Italy, Israel, and the Soviet Union.
The Iran-Iraq War, and post revolutionary sanctions at the time had a dramatic effect on Iran's inventory of western equipment. Under the pressures of war all supplies were quickly exausted and replacements became increasingly difficult to come by.The war eventually forced Iran to turn towards the Soviet Union, North Korea, Brazil, and China to meet its short term military requirements. Nevertheless, the experience of using advanced and high quality equipment was not lost on any of the branches of the Iranian armed forces. Severely disappointed by its more recent purchases of inferior, more dated designed Russian and eastern equipment, Iran sought to develop its own ability to mirror the high technology of its likely aggressors, the West and to provide a totally reliable source of equipment for the future.
Initial developments in every field of military technology were carried out with the technical support of Russia, China, and North Korea to lay the foundations for future industries. Iranian reliance on these countries has rapidly decreased over the last decade in most sectors where Iran sought to gain total independence; however, in some sectors such as the Aerospace sector Iran is still greatly reliant on external help. Iran has, at present, developed an uncanny ability to reverse engineer existing foreign hardware, improve it to its own requirements and then manufacture the finished product. Examples of this are the Boragh and the IAMI Azarakhsh. In an attempt to make it's military industries more sustainable Iran has also sought to export its military products, see Iranian Military Exports.
APC
- Cobra BMT-2 APC (Iranian Origin)
- Boragh APC (Iranian Origin)
- M113A1/A2 APC
- EE-11 Urutu APC
- BTR-60 APC
- BTR-50 Amphibious APC
RECEE / AIFV
Light tanks
Main battle tanks
- Tosan (Iranian Origin)
- Zulfiqar 1 (Iranian Origin)
- Zulfiqar 2 (Iranian Origin)
- Zulfiqar 3 (Iranian Origin)
- Safir-74 (Iranian Origin)
- T-72
- T-69 II
- T-62
- Type 59
- T-55
- T-54
- Chieftain
- M-60A1
- M-48
- M-47
Air defence
- Hawk (Improved)
- Tor-M1
- S-300
- SA-2 Guideline
- SA-5 Gammon
- SA-6 Gainful
- Shahab Thaqeb
- Rapier
- RBS-70
- Tigercat
Shoulder-launched missiles
Towed artillery
105 mm 122 mm 152 mm 155 mm 203 mm
Self-propelled artillery
122 mm 152 mm
- Raad-1 / Thunder 1 Artillery (Iranian Origin)
- Raad-2 / Thunder 2 Artillery (Iranian Origin)
- M-109
- G-6
Surface-to-surface missiles
This refers to ballistic missiles and not battlefield systems. Iran's missile forces are under the command of the Revolutionary Guards and not under the command of the regular Army.
Additional information is available in Iran's Missile Forces.
Battlefield missile systems
Short Range
- Samid Artillery Rocket
- Fajr-3 Artillery Rocket
- Tondar-69 Artillery Rocket
- Oghab Artillery Rocket
- Shahin-II Artillery Rocket
- Naze'at Artillery Rocket
- Zelzal Artillery Rocket
- Fateh-110
Anti-tank missiles
Army aviation
- Shabaviz 206 (Iranian Origin)
- Shabaviz 2-75 (Iranian Origin)
- Bell AH-1J Cobra
- Boeing CH-47 Chinook
- Agusta/Bell 206
- Agusta/Bell 212
Unmanned aerial vehicles
Small arms
- AK-47 (common among reserve forces)
- Heckler & Koch G3A6 (essentially Iranian produced G3A4's)
- RPG-7
- Khaybar KH2002 (an Iranian designed 5.56mm bullpup rifle that is intended to eventually replace the G3A6; More info)
External links
- Manufacturing equipment for the Iranian Army
- Iranian Defense Industries Organization
- GlobalSecurity.Org - Iran
- GlobalSecurity.Org - Equipment Estimation
See also
External video footage
"Equipment of the Iranian army"