"Iran says it has laser-guided artillery rounds" Topic

I dunno. Doesn't it seem that the Iranians are becoming the fastest and prolific inventors of munitions and weapons systems regardless of sanctions ect ? Robert

Iran says it has laser-guided artillery rounds
by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Jan 30, 2012

Iran has developed laser-guided artillery rounds designed to home in on stationary or moving targets at a distance of up to 20 kilometres (12 miles), Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state media Monday.

State television showed images of artillery being fired, saying it showed the precision-guided ammunition in action.

No details were given on the technology purported to be used.

"Iran is now one of just five countries in the world able to manufacture these sorts of weapons through domestic technology," Vahidi said.

The Islamic republic is subject to a UN embargo on foreign arms imports because of suspicions over its nuclear programme.

It frequently announces domestically produced, hi-tech breakthroughs in the military sector, though gives few details.

Early this month, it test-fired short-range missiles during navy war games.

And Vahidi last week said new air and sea defence systems, and electronic warfare technology, would be presented next month, when Iran commemorates the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution.

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Glad to hear they are up to speed with 1970's era technology.

Now where did I put my laser pointer, and the spare battery for it?

Who cares what Iran have. They are irrelevant unless they shut the straits and for all their bluster, they aint that nuts.

Jaz
6sided.net – photo sharing for wargamers!

"Who cares what Iran have"

Obviously it seems that some may be concerned they they might just be nuts enough and not just the US. But since most of their proclamations are just BS who knows? Robert

But you gotta love their bombast LOL.

"The unlawful sanctions levelled against the peace-loving Iranian people cannot prevent them from designing and fielding weapons that will leave the entire world cringing and begging for mercy," said MoDII Minister Ahmad Vahidi."

Though I think most are in line to what this article points out,

World panics over Iran's new 'super' missiles
11.02.2011

Iran has made yet another announcement about the development of a new type of weapon. The Iranian administration claimed that it was going to launch the mass production of new ballistic missiles. According to Chief Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the missiles, called the Persian Gulf, develop the speed of 3,675 kilometers an hour and strike targets at a range of 300 kilometers. Jafari also stated, in a classic Iranian manner, that the new missile was unreachable for enemies.

This is undoubtedly a huge success for the Islamic Republic, and it makes one recollect Iran's previous achievements in the field of defense. Indeed, Teheran has achieved a lot at this point. It has supposedly started building own destroyers and frigates, not to mention state-of-the-art aircraft and air defense systems. What is more, Iran releases statements about the development of new types of arms on a regular basis. Iranian officials persistently claim that all of their systems surpass all foreign analogues in all respects.

What does the Iranian defense industry actually produce? Let's take, for example, the country's state-of-the-art fighter jets. Iran decided to develop its own aerospace industry at the end of the 1980s. Back in those years, Iran was staying in a state of war with Iraq. The Iranian Air Force lost much of its strength because of the sanctions imposed against the country. First and foremost, Teheran was experiencing serious difficulties with deliveries of spare parts.

They started talking about the achievements of the Islamic Republic in the field of defense aviation only after the sanctions had been lifted. In 2002, Iran designed its own cargo plane, which bore a striking resemblance to Russia's An-140.A good beginning is half the battle. Afterwards, the world learned about the appearance of another superpower, which, according to official statements from Teheran, could build its own fighter jets. There was not just one type of aircraft – there were two. They were called Azarakhsh and Shafaq. The two planes looked exactly like USA's F-14 Tomcat and the ancient F-5 Tiger II. However, the Iranians were not confused about it. They continued to develop state-of-the-art defense technology – the technology, which made Iran's "enemies" giggle.

For instance, let's take the products of the Iranian helicopter industry. Even a quick glance on this miracle of Iranian defense technology immediately brings memories of ancient American fighters, such as AH-1 Cobra and others.

Iran's Shihab-1 and Shihab-2 "ballistic missiles" are simply modernized versions of Soviet Scud missiles. The situation with combat ships is the same. In February of 2002, for example, Iran launched the Jamaran destroyer equipped with guided missiles. Only a few countries in the world have such vessels in their navies.

However, a closer look at the Iranian destroyer reveals that the vessel can not be categorized as a destroyer at all. It is 94 meters long, the tonnage is 1,420 tons, and the crew counts less than 140 people. In other words, the vessel looks like a multipurpose patrol boat of the near-sea area (corvette). In comparison with similar Russian patrol boats (project 20380), the Iranian one has weaker air defense equipment, its missiles are of smaller range, etc. To crown it all, the body of the vessel looks like old British Alvand corvettes built by Vosper corporation at the end of the 1960s.

This is not the first time when Iran misleads the international community about its defense power. A while back, Iran launched the new oceanic frigate Sina, which was also equipped with "extremely powerful weapons." The tonnage of the Iranian frigate was very low, and it was later revealed that Sina was nothing but a missile boat.

Alexander Khramchikhin, deputy director of the Institute for Political and Military Analysis, told Pravda.Ru that everything that Iran could boast of was poor quality rip-offs of foreign arms.

"The so-called Iranian defense technology is a bluff, that has no match anywhere in the world. Most of the arms, which the Iranians advertise, have been ripped off from China, and China, as it is well-known, makes copies of Russian weapons. The quality of Chinese rip-offs is a lot lower than that of Russian weapons, and one can only imagine what the Iranians produced.

"It is also possible that Iran simply buys certain types of military hardware from third countries and then claims its ownership for those arms. It particularly goes about an analogue of S-300 missile systems, which Iran has demonstrated recently. I have two variants to explain where they took those systems from. It was either Belarus that shipped the complex to Iran, or they received the Chinese version of it known as HQ-9. The Iranians simply can not make copies of such weapons.

"As for the missiles, there are too many questions about them. All the previous versions were highly inaccurate in terms of target destruction: the speed of the missiles had been increased excessively," the expert said.

What does Iran intend to pursue with its global publicity stunts about its own defense power? The country fails to deceive foreign military experts. Most likely, the Iranian propaganda machine targets its own population.

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Iran says it has a lot of stuff. When you seriously investigate it, it is usually a piece of western technology that has been reverse engineered and then modified locally. The home grown stuff is less than capable – such as their fleet of flying boats that doesn't look big enough to carry a MG despite their claims that it will rain death on the American fleet in the Gulf. I forget if it was their "stealth" fighter or the previous generation that was really a modified F-5 that had been reverse engineered and then rebuilt with twin tails, an extended wing and similar modifications. Seriously?

You can't argue with fusion-powered anti-matter tractor beams, though:

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I for one welcome our new Iranian Overlords… derkaderka!

Because it's easy to photoshop laser beams onto photos of explosions.

"Today the Islamic Republic of Iran has 'LAZERRRR' guided artillery rounds."

with that new technology breakthrough, it will be a matter of days before these deadly weapons are deployed in the Persian Gulf.

They might.
Wouldn't matter much if they do.
-Kle.

No, no, no, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf man-eating, laser-guided sharks are evil Israeli Zionist weapons. Don't you read the news?

Actually, this is the most plausible one yet they've come up with. Of course, I'm sure there's some lost translation there…. Probably supposed to be Surface to Surface or Air to Surface missiles, not artillery rounds.

Has anyone else noticed that Iran likes to make major defense tech announcements and saber rattling every time the natives get a little restless?

Lion, no! Not the Islamic Republic of Iran! They wouldn't ever do something like that!

They may be spoiling for a fight so that the population can unify against a common enemy ,otherwise they could have a people are revolting phase on themselves like others in that playgroud.

"I forget if it was their "stealth" fighter or the previous generation that was really a modified F-5 that had been reverse engineered and then rebuilt with twin tails, an extended wing and similar modifications"

Yep I think it was the good ole Saeqeh-80 (Lightning) Azarakhsh-2 Sundance.

> Has anyone else noticed that Iran likes to make major defense tech announcements and saber rattling every time the natives get a little restless?

Have to be dead not to notice.

Thought so. I did a paper and presentation on the Iranian arms industry when I was in Arabic class.

Well obviously there is no resemblance . lol Robert

Reminds me a bit of the pronouncements by Iraq's Baghdad Bob propaganda minister, during the war.

I miss him, but the Iranians are giving him a good run for the money, in terms of bluster.

The round looks kinda like a copy of a M712 Copperhead

Or a Russian 152mm laser guided Krasnopol

Or just some display model. Robert

BTW does anyone know a site where I could get some 3-view drawings for the Saeqeh-80 (Lightning) Azarakhsh-2 ? Robert

Yep I think it was the good ole Saeqeh-80 (Lightning) Azarakhsh-2

Hey, that's actually pretty slick-looking! Anyone make a model of it in 1/600?

It isn't an artillery round. To be an artillery round it would need to have pop-out guidance fins like the Copperhead (see Robert's photo above). The Iranian thing has fixed fins, which suggests an AGM or LGB.

Nah, it could have fixed fins and be fired with a sabot.
-Kle.

That might work with APFSDS rounds that use kinetic energy to penetrate the target, but this presumably is a shaped-charge round and warhead diameter & weight is everything in such weapons. To reduce warhead diameter simply to accommodate fins and sabot would be incredibly inefficient.

While it's difficult to gauge scale, judging from the comparitive wingspan of the tailfins, I'd say that if it's sabot-launched, it must either have to have an enormous artillery piece to fire it, or it must be a tiny round. The tailfins are each at least as wide as the body of the thing, which means that two-thirds of the calibre will be taken up by the span of the tailfins. For example, if it's fired by a 152mm gun, that would mean a maximum warhead diameter of 50mm, which would be a very weak weapon. A 203mm gun would still only mean a warhead diameter of 66mm and would therefore be just a LAW delivered by heavy artillery.

My guess is that it's a modified GBU-15 glide bomb, some variants of which do look very similar indeed:

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Meh. These would be top attack weapons generally, so small warhead size isn't so much of an issue. ICM bomblets aren't exactly huge, but they work just fine.

Besides, even with just an HE payload, precision artillery rounds would still be useful.

In any case, I'm not saying that this is a laser-guided artillery round, nor am I saying that Iran definitely has that capability. I'm just pointing out that the lack of folding fins does not mean that it can't possibly be a CLGP.
-Kle.

Not every Iranian weapon system is a phantom or a joke. Google EFP.

Well obviously there is no resemblance . lol Robert

They are different colors so of course it is Iranian built. Only Iran can produce things in grey.

Do you think that their military really believe all the stuff their government puts out?

What they evidently need to work on is a new model fishing boat that works. The USN keeps having to save these guys lately. Maybe Iran will build a carrier battle group so they can keep track of all the sinking fishing boats.

"Hey, that's actually pretty slick-looking! Anyone make a model of it in 1/600?"

Hey Lion. Thats why I was asking if there were any 3-view drawings of it :). Robert

"Do you think that their military really believe all the stuff their government puts out?"

I bet some do. Just enough have to. Especially those in the Revolutionary Guards. Robert

Iran mass producing anti-ship cruise missile: TV
by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Feb 4, 2012

Iran has begun mass production of an anti-ship cruise missile, state television's website said on Saturday.

The Zafar missile, as it is dubbed in the report, "is a short-range, anti-ship cruise missile capable of destroying small- and medium-sized targets with high precision."

It can be mounted on speed boats and other light vessels, can withstand electronic warfare, and is able to fly in low altitudes to avoid detection, the report said.

Iran has a fleet of speed boats that often challenge US and allied warships in the Gulf.

The vessels are usually controlled by the elite Revolutionary Guards and can be equipped with missiles.

The Islamic republic says it has a wide range of missiles. It says some are capable of striking targets inside Israel as well as Middle Eastern military bases of its other main archfoe, the United States.

Tehran regularly boasts about developing missiles having substantial range and capabilities, but Western military experts cast doubt on its claims.

Iran's military said in January that it could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, through which a third of global marine oil traffic passes, if it is attacked."

link

So now its if is attacked huh? I guess they couldn't follow through with their previous threat after the USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Gulf. Robert

Seems to me that an F5 with a fatter arse is not much of an improvement?

A lot of this amusement about Iranian capabilities rmeinds me that we used to think the Japanese couldn't produce a modern fighter plane…..

"Seems to me that an F5 with a fatter arse is not much of an improvement?"

Seems the consensus is thats all it is. I guess many aren't impressed. Robert

Seems that quite a bit of Iranian weapons are a "modified/upgraded copy of" or "Reverse engineered" from other country's weapons. Or "refitted with indigenous components". Robert

My experience of the Iranian mineral industry (same employer) is that nothing works, particularly the people.

Hopefully we won't have the opportunity to see what does work. Robert