"Be aware of the new Iranian War Machine." Topic

Those are some "news" of the Iranian Army today.

The new Zoljanah 10x10 heavy tactical vehicle.

"During the military parade in Tehran, Friday, April 18, 2014, the Iranian army has unveiled the new heavy tactical vehicle Zoljanah produced locally by the Iranian defense industry. In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and has attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems…"

Full article here.
link

The Hoveyzeh 155mm self-propelled howitzer.

"Iranian army has presented Sunday, April 20, 2014, a 155mm self-propelled howitzer dubbed Hoveyzeh which is based on the American-made M109A1. The Hoveyzeh is a rebuilt M-109A1 which has been built using scraped and decommissioned M-109s. Many parts of the vehicle are manufactured by the Iranian army defense industry…"

Full article here
link

The latest local-made main battle tank named Sabalan.

"The Iranian Army has unveiled another home-made main battle tank, dubbed as Sabalan, during a ceremony in Tehran, April 20, 2014. The new main battle tank was unveiled by the Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan…"

Full article here
link

The new Moharram six-barrel 12.7mm Gatling-type machine gun.

"The Iranian Army's Ground Force has unveiled its new local-made Moharram 6-barrel 12.7 mm Gatling-type machine gun. During the military parade in Tehran on April 18, 2014, the Moharram was mounted at the rear of a local-made neinava 4x4 light tactical vehicle…"

Full article here.
link

The new powerful S-200 surface-to-air defense missile system Sayyad 3.

"Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli announced that Iran has designed a new powerful and high-precision missile dubbed 'Sayyad (Hunter) 3' to be mounted on its long-range S-200 anti-aircraft system…"

Full article here.
link

Amicalement
Armand

Is that a Centurian with a new massive turret stuck on the top ?

Centurian, in the best of British tradition is right hand drive, as worryingly is the Leopard!

Tally Ho!

From the article, the Sabalan is based on the American-made M-47M Patton main battle tank (even I'm younger than this design) equipped with a new home-made turret which has been manufactured by the (well known MBT design bureau) the Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization of the Iranian Army Ground Force.

The main armament includes a M68 105mm smoothbore gun, a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun is mounted to the right of the gun. (Pity the poor Iranian tankers.)

That S-200 SAM looks like a Centuri Model Rocket Kit I built in High School 30 years ago….

Wait…the coax is on the RIGHT SIDE? RIGHT NEXT TO THE GUNNER?!?!?….Oh GEEZ LOUISE….

*smh*

Watch out for their navy, too.

Ron

Why am I not worried ? Based on their performance in the Iran-Iraq War, a few decades back …

well that was a few decades back…
The Soviets did badly at the start of the Winter War but 6 years later were crushing Berlin….

That is true … but they are Persians are not Soviets … however as always never under estimate your enemy … However, most armies in the region have not proved to be very effective in modern conventional combat ops …

The material and supply depot staff must have the biggest parts catalogue in the world with all these "one of a kind" weapon systems. Do they have "one of a kind" common trucks to bring the "one of a kind" special part to keep the "one of a kind" weapon system working and firing the…. you guessed it …. "one of a kind" bullet or missile. And then those training manuals…. you cannot fire the weapon…. it is "one of a kind".

Do they stock that Aqua blue paint color?

M

Iranians are not too bad on keeping the things running – I was working in Turkmenia, and I was often visiting gas plant on Iranian border. I saw plenty of trailers from Iran going to Asghabat…all old US trucks, still running from before Khomeyni times…Also heard that some of their F4 are still operational ;)

They will keep their assets running … but if need be could they deploy them effectively in actual combat ? That remaines to be seen … and let's hope no one has to find out in actual combat ops ..

It looks like a Patton with a T-34/85 turret- not very original designs are they?

the big advantage is that they can get these… better stuff they can't due to embargos

… However, most armies in the region have not proved to be very effective in modern conventional combat ops … but American boots on the ground would be doing the tiptoe a week after the 'conventional war was 'won?' Don't need much sophistication using IEDs, so its all show and tell for home consumption really.

Did anyone else notice all the shell traps on that turret.

Zargon … Yes … that's why the US won't get involved on the ground … even though the US Military has become pretty effective at COIN with recent experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan … it still could be a costly endeavor … especially against islamists … But I agree, it's all show for the locals …

OK, so the take-away for me here is that Iran has an aggressive recycling program.

Yes Sajiro, but can they turn Coke into Pepsi ;)

Zargon, they may still have a stockpile of New Coke. That's pretty close.

Sabalan looks like a cheap M-60 knock off.

I wonder if they are willing to sell me one of those little subs? It would be so much fun to put on the table at the next miniatures convention.

And why does the missile look like some sort of Estes model rocket?

Yes Doug, it looks like a massive shot trap on the MBT. I reckon that the drivers going to have some difficulty getting out of his hatch too..