Search results

Peed, That does make some sense. To increase the range of a missile, you generally have to either increase the burn time of the motor or use more energetic fuel combination, both of which should increase your velocity at a burnout. For example, the infamous R-12 MRBM (known for its role in...

ALCON, There's something I've wanted to put out there about MaRVs that may be causing misunderstandings. MaRVs don't knowingly "dodge" ABM interceptors, it's just that in the midst of performing it's basic/necessary maneuvers to stay on course to the target, it's trajectory is not as...

PeeD, It was my understanding that the Ghadr/Shahab-3 family have never reached the same kind of velocity the Sejil has. I've seen reports of the early tests back in the early 2000s achieving velocities of ~1.9-2.0 km/s, which is 35% more than the R-17/Scud missiles can achieve. This...

AmirPatriot, I admit I'm not expert when it comes to sonar/acoustics but I'll take a stab at it. As several other members pointed out, since the front of the torpedo is not longer actually "in water", an acoustic-based seeker likely wouldn't function proper (likely having your ear just above...

ALCON, Per the link I posted previously: "Generates a gas-cavity which gives it great speed but also prevents it from having any sort of homing guidance system. For this reason, a newer version was developed which runs out at high speed but then slows to search for a target. "

ALCON, To clarify, the original VA-111 (which had no actual guidance mechanism, just a straight shot weapon) had a range of only about 7km. Later production models apparently have a range increase of 50-100%, apparently thanks to actually having a guidance system installed. A great source...

AmirPatriot, To be even more accurate: Russian designer Fatadin Mukhamedov founded a small design bureau that, among other things, designed an advanced trainer to compete with the MiG-AT and Yak-130, called the M-AT or "Integral". This was made public around 1998. Shortly there after, the...

Sobhan, That could be the case, but there's nothing "official" stating that (aka news stories, arms reports, etc). There are however, Iranian media reports from last year of Iran importing a number of AK-103s from Russia. Small arms are after all some of the simplest arms to...

ALCON, We can be 99.9% sure no F-16s ended up in Iran, due to the projected delivery schedule. There is some evidence that some AGE kit (power carts for example) and possibly some ATM-9L training rounds were delivered in 1978-1979. These items are rumored to have been sold/traded to Pakistan...

Assuming this new test is of the same missile in the older clip we've been discussing, it could be that is similar in concept to the Soviet RPK-series of missiles. These missiles were (for the most part), built around a torpedo with a solid-fuel rocket motor for boost propulsion. They could be...

ALCON, In the last few days, I've made several references to the folks at the SIPRI or Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and their extensive arms sales database. Specifically, I pulled a report from their public database that shows ALL arms imported or licensed to Iran from...

PeeD, SIPRI does actually track license-assembly agreements to at least. In fact, depending on how you pull the data from their database, it actually puts all License-Agreements together by country selling them the license. For example, I have in my records a report that shows ALL military...

PeeD, But that brings up an important question: how many T-72s does Iran even have? Per the folks at SIPRI (whose job it is to try and collect arms contract information from around the world and whose records go back to the 1950s), here is the breakdown of Iran's T-72s: - 37 T-72M1s from...

PeeD, True but that wasn't what I was getting at. Why didn't Iran pursue the improved Zulfiqar design when the Russian stopped sending Iran T-72S kits/assembly components back in the early 2000s? Of the originally ordered 1000 units, most sources point to less than half being delivered when...

ALCON, We're also not 100% exactly what type of weapon that video showed being launched. The odd exhaust pattern is unique and the closest existing match was the Soviet RPK-family of missiles. It's possible this was the first test of a torpedo-tube based canister design from the Ghadir. I'm...

AmirPatriot, That's definitely a fair point about standardization. On a side note, those two images are of the same variant of Zulfiqar, they're just painted differently. The early Zulfiqar's appearance/design isn't "bad", if you keep in mind that is was likely designed to give Iran a...

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, I've spent the last hour or so collecting the information for it. Tokhme Khar, Before I address the main point of contention here, I have just another quick correction for ya (tedious I know, but hey, you're giving me some job security!)...

AmirPatriot, I have serious doubts the Zulfiqar (regardless of variant) EVER made it into production or service except on an evaluation basis. Logically, IIRC, the IRGC has possession of most of Iran's T-72 inventory. This leaves the IRIA with the surviving Chieftain and Patton tanks...

BlueInGreen2, Strictly speaking, as long as it has a torpedo tube big enough for the launch capsule for such a missile (and preferably the fire control kit for the job), the answer would be yes. VLS-tech is finding its way into smaller and smaller submarine concepts but usually does so at...

ALCON, The use of drop tanks for ANY aircraft performing CAPs is pretty standard, so the F-22 using them wouldn't be remotely unusual. The whole point of CAPs are to cover as much "ground" as possible and to do so you have two choices: external tanks or A2A refueling. A2A refueling, while...