Armed Forces of Iran: number and technical equipment

Specificity of religious influence in the state has significantly affected the various spheres of political and public life in Iran. The Iranian Armed Forces did not bypass the national characteristics either . The army of the country is considered the most numerous among other states of the Middle and Middle East. The invaluable military experience of the current paramilitaries was obtained for 8 years during the war with Iraq - from 1980 to 1988. The military-political independence of Iran, the economic potential and the uniqueness of religious national values became the fundamental factors for the creation of a powerful defense base.

War of the Sunnis and Shiites

In view of the fact that the army was a direct participant in the Arab-Iranian conflict, it is of particular importance to compare the Armed Forces of Iran and Saudi Arabia within the confrontation of the two branches of the Islamic faith. The opposition of the Sunnis and Shiites clearly manifested itself in the above-mentioned war in the 80s of the XX century. Political scientists, historians call this battle the largest in the newest history of the world after the Second World War. Speaking against the Iranian Shiites, the Arabs actively used ballistic missiles and chemical weapons against the civilian population . More than 1 million people among the civilians and those who represented the Armed Forces of Iran and Saudi Arabia recognized as dead.

In addition, Iraq has benefited from the numerous support of neighboring Arab states. In the IRI, this was not forgotten.

Components of the Armed Forces of Iran

The armed forces of Iran, whose structure and organization are distinguished by the presence of two fundamental elements, constitute a powerful defense complex. The first is a permanent formation, traditional for world states, is a regular army. The second is the so-called IRGC, the Guard Corps of the Islamic Revolution. Both organizations have their own subsystem, consisting of ground forces, a powerful fleet and combat aviation. Each of them confidently functions both in wartime and in the peace period.

Among the constituents of the IRGC should be emphasized the presence of a strategically important structure, whose task is to provide the main staff with data obtained during reconnaissance and sabotage activities. In addition to these Special Forces, the Law Enforcement Force also represents the Armed Forces. Iran particularly needs the activities of specialized security forces in wartime. In this period, they are headed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Under the auspices of the IRGC, an additional division of the people's militia, called the "Islamic Army of 20 million," or the Resistance and Mobilization Force, has also been created.

Powers of the spiritual leader of the state

According to the main statutory act of the Islamic Republic of Iran, art. 110 states that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is recognized by the spiritual leader of the state and the nation as a whole. In addition, this Constitution granted him authority in the management and adoption of the most important decisions of the military-political sphere of the republic. The main issues affecting the competence of the spiritual leader include:

• Declaration of war, peace and the beginning of mobilization of a nationwide scale.
• The selection, appointment, removal and acceptance of the resignation of the leaders of certain parts and components of the Armed Forces of Iran: the command of the General Staff, IRGC, SOP, etc.
• Coordination, management and control over the work of the Supreme National Security Council. This advisory body is an important element in ensuring state security, defense, strategic and tactical planning of the work of the highest executive bodies in the relevant sectors.

Supreme Council of National Security of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The main tasks of the latter structure are the development of protective measures corresponding to the policy of the spiritual leader, and the coordination of social, economic, information and cultural aspects of state activity with the interests of the security of the state.

The Armed Forces of Iran are subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief directly through the General Staff. In turn, the latter serves as an administrative and operational management apparatus, not only when martial law is introduced in the country . The General Staff of the Armed Forces unites the leadership of the regular army and the Guard Corps, the SOP and the decentralized local bodies of each of these units, having its own function, composition and responsibilities.

Ministry of Defense of Iran

The Ministry of Defense is not part of the Armed Forces of Iran. It has no direct relation to the direct combat tasks of the troops. The mission of the central executive body is:

• The implementation of the construction of military facilities;
• Budgeting for the military sector;
• Control over the targeted use of funds;
• Support of the domestic defense industry;
• Purchase and modernization of military equipment.

The number of servicemen and the number of military equipment

The total aggregate number of people in the Armed Forces, Iran can boast of proudly: the average figure is equivalent to 700 thousand. Other sources provide slightly different figures: from 500 to 900 thousand troops. Moreover, representatives of the ground forces make up about 80% of all troops. They were followed by 100 thousand people involved in combat aviation, then about 40 thousand military represent the naval forces.

The inaccuracy of the information can easily be explained by their inaccessibility and closeness in the IRI. When the world public is beginning to be interested in the armed forces, Iran tightly closes "information doors" before it. The main stream of data is promoted from unofficial sources, therefore distortions of statements about personal combat composition, armament and technology can often occur.

As for military equipment, Iran's Armed Forces also hold leadership positions here: tanks are estimated to be about 2,000 units, about 2,500 artillery pieces, about 900 MLRS, among them "Grad", "Smerch", " "Hurricane" and others. It is impossible not to mention 200 units of anti-ship missiles, 300 combat aircraft, 400 tactical and anti-aircraft missile launchers. This is not the entire list of equipment owned by the Armed Forces of Iran. BTR, BMP, self-propelled artillery systems, mortars - all of the above weapons inspire confidence in the country's power.

Training and training of personal and officer staff

Improving the qualification of personnel is a matter often on the agendas of the leadership heading the Armed Forces. Iran is currently taking serious steps in the education of soldiers and military training of officers. Integrated training and combat training, as observers say, contributes to the establishment of a mechanism for interaction between all units and military units of various types of troops.

Special attention in the educational process deserves discipline and training in the development of the actions of every person liable for military service in the conditions of guerrilla fighting, in the case of the establishment of an occupation regime on the entire territory of the state with an enemy with a state-of-the-art weapon. In addition, if the military does not meet the proper level of training after passing the military training course, this does not mean that he is not fit for military service. Compensate for such "gaps" religious attitudes and moral and psychological training will be possible. Later, these people will have the opportunity to take part and organize psychological operations of the Armed Forces of Iran.

Intent of the IRGC

Considering the Armed Forces of Iran, we should elaborate on one of their elements. It is interesting that the Revolutionary Guards Corps of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC) was originally created as a non-permanent formation with the aim of ensuring the internal legal order. Formed more than 30 years ago, the IRGC was completely separated from the army and had nothing to do with it, including the management system. However, at the very beginning of the war between Iran and Iraq, the huge potential and multifunctional capabilities of the hull were revealed. In view of its predominance over the regular army in the military, political and power abilities, the leading link of the Iranian state prepared the corps for the main role in the system of the Armed Forces. During several years of the post-war period, a complex process of unhurried but steady union of the two fundamental structures of the militarized sphere of the state continued. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense, General Staff, united for the army and the army was formed. Unequivocally, the Armed Forces of Iran today have a complex apparatus and a successfully functioning Guard Corps system, in many respects superior to that of the regular state army.

Some time after the definition of a follower of the IRGC for the post of the head of the IRI, rumors arose about the possible merging of the two main components of the country's military system, while the supremacy is likely to be given to the corps.

Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program

Since Iran is a nuclear state, the missiles and the likelihood of their use are one of the main issues of the entire world community. IRI is able to repel an unpopular military solution for the US, Israel against the state's nuclear program.

Specialists analyzing aspects of armament of the countries of the East consider that the missile weapon for Iran is the most important element of manipulation and control over potential adversaries. Threatening with the use of missiles with nuclear warheads, the state is able to maintain supremacy in any current situation. It is not surprising that funding aimed at supporting and developing missile programs takes a weighty share from the entire military budget. For example, in the early 1990s, in the post-war period, the state had many "glades" in the socio-economic aspects of its livelihoods. At the same time, even then, emphasis was placed on optimizing this sector: the number of operational-tactical missiles largely exceeded the number of such weapons in neighboring eastern states.

Features of the formation of weapons in Iran

Moreover, following the "nuclear" path, Iran faced a multitude, at first glance, of absolutely insurmountable difficulties. The country has not developed a research component, which includes scientific traditions, specialized training, and many years of experience. It was simply impossible to create innovative weapons. It could not become equal with the most complicated achievements of Russians, Americans or developers of Western Europe. That is why Iran's defense-industrial complex is based on the method of borrowing foreign models for the reproduction of weapons on the territory of the country.

It follows that the priority direction in the design work and scientific research is the cloning of imported weapons, and more often - the passage of modernization to meet Iran's needs. Exemplary material is Chinese, North Korean, Pakistani, American and Russian military products. This has been repeatedly confirmed by weapons specialists. Iranian guns, being presented and shown for the first time, were immediately criticized by well-known military experts. Probably, "sources for inspiration" Iran finds by various methods: from illegal schemes of purchases to the received intelligence. In addition, agreements on military-technical cooperation signed in a bilateral manner are of no small importance here.

The presence of significant difficulties did not prevent the top leadership of the country from creating a military research base and armed forces. Iran at the moment has a sufficient number of scientific institutions, research laboratories, design institutions. The created military infrastructure serves as a place for the development of new models of various military equipment.

The IRI Missile Force

Despite the fact that many variants of missile systems are in Iranian developers for the time being, existing analogs in the next decade have great chances to obtain an important basis for the creation of ballistic missiles with an intermediate range level at the initial stage. Achieving such significant results will make it possible to approach the creation of intercontinental ballistic missiles. But so far, these are only plans. Today, Iran has a modest equipment with missiles, and a well-conceived strategy.

Several missile brigades and their central command are subordinate to the spiritual leader - the Supreme Commander-in-Chief:

• "Shahab-3D" and "Shahab-3M" have an approximate range of 1300 km. They are accompanied by 32 launchers.
• "Shahab-1" and "Shahab-2" have a range of shooting up to 700 km and 64 launchers.
• Tactical rockets.

The missile launch process

Rocket forces of the Armed Forces of the Iranian state use, as a rule, mobile installations for launching missiles. This fact positively affects their functioning. On the main territorial part of Iran there are rocket and technical bases corresponding to the positioning of the regions. In each of them are warehouses, fuel and lubricants, aviation fuel, a developed communication system, and has its own infrastructure.

Complex missiles, taking the order of duty, regularly change the actual location. The launchers are mainly masked by mediocre lorries, which are accompanied by two also camouflaged vehicles. Each of the latter secretly carries two missile warheads. The process of movement often goes near mobile filling stations.

Trying to foresee the course of development of the geopolitical scenario, it is necessary to take into account the emerging situation around Iran. The readiness of the state for confrontation is determined by the state of its armed forces, which has a significant impact on the development of global world processes.