Iranian capabilities

An awful lot of talk about an upcoming war with Iran. If Iraq does fall, and can be used as a true staging area, it really could happen. So I read on that Iran has been making some sort of a radioactive uranium gas. What is this gas, and how can it be used? Do they have nuclear weapons? Would they launch against Israel if they were attacked? What exactly are the capabilities of the Iranian armed forces. Are they a formidable foe?

Heres a link to globalsecurity.org, I believe most if not all the answers you are looking for are there.

www.globalsecurity.org...

Any attack against Iran would most certainly start with massive, and I mean massive, prolonged air strikes. The country would be pounded and pounded from the skies for a period of time. Such complicated deffences or attacks using something like Radioactive gases could be averted for the most part. Perhaps even detroyed prior to any ground engagements. I think Iran is smart enough to know that such a venture would just be a waste of time. Heck, the risk to thier own populace would be as great or greater than it would be to the US or any attacking country for that matter.
Lets hope this isnt true, these are the types of weapons that destroy civilians the most...

unlike IRAQ iran have enough firepower to cause a large amount of damage to US forces in the Gulf and if it comes to it alot of damage to Israel


but not enough to win the conflict against the US

lets just see if their armed forces arn't as cowerdly as the IRAQi ones

unlike IRAQ iran have enough firepower to cause a large amount of damage to US forces in the Gulf and if it comes to it alot of damage to Israel

I agree with you for the most part. I was just very curious about this radioactive gas, and what can it be used for. With Iranians literally "signing up" to be suicide bombers, add a nuke to the equation, and man it could be real ugly.....

Iran is still a very capable enemy, no doubt.

To me, the biggest undoing for the U.S. is if they ever fight Iran will be that the U.S. really doesn't see anything about Iran. All they see is some rabidly anti-American nation with no knowledge of how or why they hate America so. If you don't know your enemy, your chances of succeeding are nil.

I say America is bound to lose when fighting Iran, because man, if anything's gonna keep Iranians going, it's their well-warranted hatred for the American government.

Suffice to say, I think America fears Iran as well, because Iran is one of the few nations that has clearly shown it can and will defy the U.S. government.

Originally posted by bodrul
lets just see if their armed forces arn't as cowerdly as the IRAQi ones

Be careful what you wish for, Iranians are a trillion miles from cowardly. When Iraq invaded Iran, Iranians fought back like crazy.

sweatmonicaIdo - very well said
I don't know what we do or don't know about Iran. My guess is probably more than you and I can guess. I don't think that Iran would win outright, but i do believe that it could be very ugly.

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo

Originally posted by bodrul
lets just see if their armed forces arn't as cowerdly as the IRAQi ones

Be careful what you wish for, Iranians are a trillion miles from cowardly. When Iraq invaded Iran, Iranians fought back like crazy.

i said arn't not are
i know the iranians arn't cowerds that remark was just a joke

lets just see if their armed forces arn't as cowerdly as the IRAQi ones

Well, I suspect if you're sitting in your tank, in the desert, at night, and keep losing contact with your fellow tanks, (i.e. they are being blown to smithereens one by one), and you STILL have no idea where the enemy is, you'd probably beat feet too, hehe...

While I wouldn't call Iraq's former army "brave" by any stretch, I think I can see they were at least sensible on occassion, hehe....

Originally posted by superdude
sweatmonicaIdo - very well said

I don't know what we do or don't know about Iran. My guess is probably more than you and I can guess. I don't think that Iran would win outright, but i do believe that it could be very ugly.

Well again, most Americans see Iran as a nation led by madmen. Then again, any nation that contradicts America is led by madmen, right?


Americans also seem to not realize that whatever hatred, hostility, and violence Iran had against America were all in retaliation for something America did. For example, the Iranian Hostage Crisis would never have happened had Jimmy Carter not brought the Shah to America for medical treatment. The hostage crisis was totally blown out of proportion. Marching around prisoners is pretty freaky, but the Iranians treated the hostages rather graciously as opposed to the Iraqis or other nations. Khomenei had the Marine guards and women released early on and released another hostage when he grew ill. Pan Am Flight 103 probably wouldn't have been destroyed had the U.S.S. Vincennes not shot down that Iranian air liner on July 3, 1988 in the Straits of Hormuz.

Iran is a very different case but America doesn't seem to see that. Again, it's a by-product of this "Either you're with us or against us" rhetoric.

Pan Am Flight 103 probably wouldn't have been destroyed had the U.S.S. Vincennes not shot down that Iranian air liner on July 3, 1988 in the Straits of Hormuz.

Although Pan Am Flight 103 was blow up ten months after USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian passenger air plane, but it was not done by Iranians. Last year Libyans admitted this was done be them and they said that they are willing to pay the families $2B. This was done before dismantling their chemical and nuclear facilities.


.

Iran is playing a very dangerous game!

Records and Highlights of the Israeli Air Force that have astonished the world:

---November 30, 1947 until July 20, 1949- The War Of Independence: Although the Israeli Air Force was only born during the war, 18 enemy planes were shot down in dogfights. A single Israeli plane may have been shot down in a dogfight over the Galilee, but the exact circumstances of its demise were never established in certainty.

---1956- The Sinai Campaign: Seven enemy planes were shot down in the course of the Sinai Campaign, without a single Israeli plane being shot down.

---June 5, 1967- The Six Day War: Operation "Moked"- The destruction of the entire Egyptian air-force within 3 hours. By the end of the day the Syrian and Jordanian air forces were wiped out as well and the Iraqi air force was badly damaged.
The IAF achieved a total air-superiority for the rest of the war, that ended with an amazing victory for Israel. The IAF shoot-down total at the end of the war was a claimed record of 469 enemy aircraft downed versus of its own 24 downed.

---March, 1969 until August, 1970- The War of Attrition: 111 enemy warplanes were shot-down in dogfights by IAF pilots while only 4 IAF warplanes were shot down in dogfigths by enemy pilots.
Also during the Cold-War, the Soviet Union held close relationships with the Arab nations; On July 30, 1970 the tension peaked: A large scale air brawl between IAF planes and MiGs flown by Soviet pilots occurred- 5 MiGs flown by Soviet pilots were shot down, while the IAF suffered no losses.

---October, 1973- The Yom Kippur war: Despite the surprise attack launched by Israel's enemies- Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon in the most holy day for the Judaism- Yom Kippur, and despite the unprepareness for the new SAM air-defences, IAF shot-down 277 enemy warplanes, loosing only 5 warplanes of its own in dogfights and played a major role in Israel's victory.

---June 7, 1981: The first and only attack in history of a nuclear reactor: The destruction of the Iraqi Osiraq nuclear reactor; 8 IAF F-16 fighters flew to Iraq and bombed the nuclear facilties of Osiraq. Among the pilots that took part in the attack was the late Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut.

---Obtaining the first shoot-downs for the American fighter jets, the F-15 and the F-16.

---June 8, 1982: The Lebanon war ("Peace for the Galilee"): The destruction of the entire Soviet-Syrian air-defence system in Lebanon within few hours without a single warplane lost; Syria with the U.S.S.R built up an overlapping network of SAMs, and the density of SAM site locations was unmatched anywhere in the world including the U.S.S.R. itself.
Also IAF achieved a total of 88 Syrian planes shoot-downs, 80 of them in dogfights, without a single IAF warplane lost in dogfights.

---126 enemy planes were shot down in dogfights in the years between the wars - most of them in the 70`s. The IAF lost only 2 planes in dogfights between the wars, in 1959 and in 1964.

---1985: The bombing of PLO Headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, the longest combat mission ever undertaken by the IAF.

---The only documented emergency landing of an F-15 with only one wing.

---In the United States Air Force and the air forces of several European countries, an ace is a pilot who has shot down 5 or more enemy planes. The Israeli Air force boasts 39 pilots who shot down 5 or more planes, and 10 of these have shot down more than 8 planes.

---But one of these pilots, Col. (Res.) Giora Even (Epstein), stands out as the unquestioned Ace of Aces, having shot down a record 17 (seventeen!) planes in the course of his amazing career. Epstein has held his record for 25 years, and needless to say - is a true IAF icon, and an object of veneration for generations of IAF pilots. And the record is not confined to the IAF: according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world record holder for jet air victories is an American pilot who shot down 16 planes. Apparently, someone had better tell the Guinness guys about Giora Epstein.

---687 enemy warplanes were shot down in dogfights by IAF warplanes since the independence day of Israel- May of 1948, while only 23 IAF warplanes were shot down in dogfights by enemy warplanes since 1948.

---IAF is holding the world record for the air force with the highest number of enemy's warplanes shoot-downs, air combats, special operations, and air to ground operations, since the end of World-War II.

Sources: IDF/IAF, CIA World's facts book.
___________________________________

Sep. 22, 2003 | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Israeli air force pilots handily beat their German counterparts in "dogfights" in the first ever air force exercise between the two countries, an Israeli military official said Monday. The Israeli F-15 pilots, aided by special technology that Israel does not share or sell to other countries, beat the Germans by more than 100 "hits," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the past, Israel has beaten American air force pilots by similar margins, the officials added. Israel purchases U.S. warplanes without battle technology, installing its own locally made systems into the aircraft. The exercise was conducted over the past two weeks in the skies of Sardinia in Italy.

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Iran is going to mess with the WRONG country...

The f-14 kill record against the Iraqis, confirmed by Tom Cooper:

Iranian Air Force Kills Against The Iraqi Air Force
Confirmed Kills ________ 123
Unconfirmed Kills ______ 5
Shared Kill ___________ 1
Damage/Close Calls ___ 8


Iraqi Air Force Kill Claims Against The Iranian Air Force
Confirmed Kills ________ 3
Unconfirmed Kills ______ 9
Damage/Close Calls ___ 1


That is by the way after all of the iranian aces were killed and they had an embargo on them, and had no engineers and were running out of piolets and did not have many generals and were attacked by suprise and had a divided country.

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Sep]

Yeah I am sure that now the IAF will think twise before desroying the Iranian air force within 2 hours...



And the IAF has done all of that when it was less in numbers and had worser technology, fighting minimum at 3 fronts in the same time.

Please... Shame on you for even comparing the Israeli AF with the Iranian AF!










[edit on 11-12-2004 by Justice Fighter]

Originally posted by Justice Fighter
Yeah I am sure that now the IAF will think twise before desroying the Iranian air force within 2 hours...

And the IAF has done all of that when it was less in numbers and had worser technology, fighting minimum at 3 fronts in the same time.

Please... Shame on you for even comparing the Israeli AF with the Iranian AF!

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Justice Fighter]

have you heard of the saying never underestimate your enemies

or in the case of other countries looking at the US
its
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity

This you should tell to Iran and not to Israel then

Iran (same as Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq before her) is playing a danegrous game with a country who doesnt (and didnt) loose in such games.

Yes, USA is so stupid that it saved Europe 3 times already- WW-I, WW-II, and the Cold-War.

Ignorance is a dangerous game also

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Justice Fighter]

Originally posted by Justice Fighter
Yeah I am sure that now the IAF will think twise before desroying the Iranian air force within 2 hours...

And the IAF has done all of that when it was less in numbers and had worser technology, fighting minimum at 3 fronts in the same time.

Please... Shame on you for even comparing the Israeli AF with the Iranian AF!

LOL, did you really write this and want an answer?

originally posted by skippytjc
Any attack against Iran would most certainly start with massive, and I mean massive, prolonged air strikes. The country would be pounded and pounded from the skies for a period of time.

Bombing has never won a war, America learnt this when they dropped more bombs on North Vietnam in the Vietnam war, than the entire European theatre of operation in WWII (Yes... thats ALOT of bombs). This in turn only increased the resolve of the NVA and VC to fight harder and win.

I would assume that the Iranian military would not leave much of its army in plain sight. Personally I believe that Iran would realise they could not beat American land forces in a straight battle, rather however opting for something similar to what is happening in Iraq (Long drawn out and messy) that they would have a good chance of winning.

Also what would make you think America would have the capibility to attack Iran in its present state when they are already losing in Iraq?.

originally posted by superdude
...If Iraq does fall, and can be used as a true staging area...

Not that I am a military analist but your statement is some what illogical for it is now almost impossible for America to win in Iraq. The Iraqi resistance is growing stronger and American forces are growing weaker and more tired. I shouldnt need to point out links for common facts like these...

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Johnny Redburn]

Originally posted by Justice Fighter

Ignorance is a dangerous game also

[edit on 11-12-2004 by Justice Fighter]

thats what you seem to be good at