Iranian Air Force in ‘desperate’ straits

Press, 25 October 1984, Page 10

Iranian Air Force in ‘desperate’ straits

NZPA-AP London Iran’s much-vaunted “final offensive” has apparently been stalled indefinitely because Teheran is unable to replace high-tech-nology equipment, particularly United "States-made combat planes, lost in fighting Iraq, “Jane’s Defence Weekly” reports. It said in a report from Teheran that Iran’s Air Force, once the most powerful in the Gulf, been has reduced more than the West has realised after four years of war. The decline in the Air Force had left Iran’s ground forces “exposed to the full weight of any major assault” by Iraq, “despite the apparent willingness of the Iranians to sustain heavy casualties they can afford in comparison to their foes,” it said. “Thete is no evidence at all of any decline in the Iranian will” because the fanatical followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeiny in the Revolutionary Guard Corps had “assumed ascendancy over the Army.” The weekly is produced

by Jane’s Publishing Company, which issues military yearbooks that are considered highly authoritative by the Western defence establishment. The magazine’s, correspondent, Frank Cranston, quoted unidentified ; ? Air Force sources as laying that the serviceability of Iran’s surviving “estimated 110 combat aircraft” was “desperate”. Iran’s transport and tanker planes were also reported to be in critical shape. Jane’s said that four Boeing 707 tankers based at Teheran’s Mehrabad Airport had not taken off “for many weeks” because of shortages and the failure of in-flight refuelling equipment. Western defence sources said that there was no clear indication how many combat aircraft Iran still has serviceable. . But the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated this month that Iran’s Air Force had only about 95 combat planes left. This included 35 Phantom and 50 Tiger II fighterbombers.

The institute listed Iranian Air Force combat strength at 445, mostly Phantoms and Tigers, in 1980 before the Gulf war began. ' ’ Its latest analysis said that Iraq had an estimated 58Q Combat- planes, mostly Soviet-made MiG23 and Sukhoi? fighter-bombers, MiG25 interceptors; and Tupolev 22 bombers, plus 150 armed helicopters. That indicated considerable replacement of combat losses, apparently by the Soviets. The institute’s 198081 military balance listed Iraq as having 332 combat planes. 1 Cranston said that Iran had kept its Boeing 747 s and 7075-in the air only by the Islamic State’s airline “purchasing spares on the market as a normal commercial operation”, Iran has had serious problems obtaining military spares for its largely United States-made hardware because of arms embargoes. He said that much of Iran’s surviving helicopter fleet was also reported to be grounded because of a lack of spares.