When it comes to defending the sovereignty of its national airspace and the related air-defence identification zone (ADIZ), the Islamic Republic of Iran has, since mid-2004, been undertaking a mammoth upgradation of its hierarchical air-defence system with the help of Russia, China and North Korea. Command, control and communications of Iran’s air-defence networks s is split into three institutions.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) controls manned airborne platforms and air-traffic management, while the Air-Defence Force (IRIADF) or Khatam al-Anbiya Air-Defence HQ, which split off from the IRIAF in 2008, commands and controls all ground-based air-defence systems. The Revolutionary Guard Corps (PASDARAN) is responsible for strategic air-defence and ADIZ monitoring, plus the operations of ballistic missile early warning systems.
Between 2009 and 2016, the PASDARAN and IRIADF have worked together to commission four different VHF-band long-range over-the-horizon radars (OTHR) throughout Iran.
The first 1,500km-range Ghadir OTHR was commissioned at Garmsar in Semnan province on June 2, 2014, while the second OTHR was commissioned in Ahvaz in Khuzestan province onJuly 4, 2015).
The third followed last year, this being located between the towns of Andisheh and Qods just west of Teheran. It faces southeast at approximately 151 degrees and is thus able to cover most of central Iran and the Persian Gulf. The Garmsar-based OTHR features four horizontal phased-arrays placed along a square and a central vertical array. The four primary arrays are approximately 39 metres in width and together form a square with sides measuring approximately 55 metres. This configuration provides 360-degree coverage of nearly all Iran and Iraq, the far southeast of Turkey and parts of northeast Saudi Arabia. All three Ghadir OTHRs are in fact Russia-supplied Rezonans-NE OTHRs.
Iran’s latest OTHR is the 3,000km-range Sepehr OTHR that is located in a mountainous part of the Kordestan province in western Iran. The site is 27km north of the city of Bijar.
Construction work began in mid-2012 and was complete by October 2013. This OTHR provides 360-degree coverage of all Iran as well as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Turkey and Pakistan. It also provides partial coverage of Eastern Europe, southwest Russia (including Moscow), western India and most of the Arabian Sea.
The Sepehr is in fact Russia’s Voronezh-M VHF-band OTHR, whose first field-trials were conducted in March 2007, and the first such OTHR in Russia was commissioned on February 11, 2012. The Sepehr and Voronezh-M both use planar phased-aeeay antennaethat cover in the azimuth from 245 to 355 degrees, and in the elevation from 2 to 70 degrees. The radars’ blind range is 100km, and the maximum target altitude is about 4,000km.
In addition to these OTHRs, the IRIADF has commissioned into service a number of Russia-supplied tactical air-defence radars like the 1L119 Nebo SVU VHF-band system, Fath-14 VHF-band system, Kasta-2KE2E VHF-band radar, Matla-ol-Fajr VHF-band system, and the Kayhan UHF-band radar.
Days Of Imperial Glory
In the period between 1967 and 1979, Iran was the custodian of the world’s fifth largest fleet of military aircraft. The Imperial Iranian Air Force’s (IIAF) 1 Tactical Air Base at Teheran’s Mehrabad Airport comprised of the 11 Tactical Fighter Squadron operating McDonnell DouglasF-4E Phantom-2 M-MRCAs, 12 Tactical Fighter Squadron flying F-4Es, 13 Combat Instructor School with F-4Es, 11 Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron with RF-4Es, Northrop RF-5s and Lockheed RT-33s, 11 Tactical Transport Squadron with Lockheed C-130E/H Hercules transports, 12 Tactical Transport Squadron with C-130E/Hs, one MRTT squadron with Boeing B.707s and B.747s (the IIAF was the world’s sole operator of KC-747 MRTTs), one Fokker Friendship F-27 Transport Squadron, 11 Search & Rescue Squadron and one Support Squadron with F-33s and L-20s; the 2 Tactical Air Base at Tabriz that comprised the 21 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5E Tiger-2 L-MRCAs, 22 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 23 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 21 Counter Insurgency Squadron with Grumman O–2As, 21 Search & Rescue Squadron, and one Support Squadron with F-33s; the 3 Tactical Air Base at Hamadan (Shahrokhi) housing the 31 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 32 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 33 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 34 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 31 Search & Rescue Squadron and one Support Squadron with F-33s; 4 Tactical Air Base at Dezfull (Vahdati) comprising the 41 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 42 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 43 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron with F-5Es, 41 Search & Rescue Squadron and one Support Squadron with F-33s and L-20s; 5 Tactical Air Base at Agha Jari (Omidieh) with its 51 Tactical Fighter Squadron flying F-5Es, 52 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 53 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 51 Search & Rescue Squadron and one F-33 Support Squadron; 6 Tactical Air Base at Bushehr comprising the 61 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron with F-4Es, 62 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 63 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Ds, the 61 Search & Rescue Squadron and one F-33 Support Squadron; the 7 Tactical Air Base at Shiraz comprising the 71 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 72 Tactical Fighter Squadron with Grumman F-14 Tomcats, 73 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron with F-14s, 71 Tactical Transport Squadron with C-130E/H, 72 Tactical Transport Squadron with C-130E/H, 71 Search & Rescue Squadron and one F-33 Support Squadron; the 8 Tactical Air Base at Isfahan ( Khatami ) comprising the 81 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-14s, 82 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron with F-14s, 81 Search & Rescue Squadron, and one F-33 Support Squadron; 9 Tactical Air Base in Bandar Abbas with its 91 Tactical Fighter Squadron flying F-4Es, 92 Tactical Squadron with P-3F Orion LRMR/AQSW platforms, 91 Search & Rescue Squadron and one F-33 Support Squadron; and the 10 Tactical Air Base at Chabahar comprising the 101 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-5Es, 102 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, 103 Tactical Fighter Squadron with F-4Es, the 101 Search & Rescue Squadron, and one F-33 Support Squadron.
The IIAF’s first squadron of 13 F-5A/B Freedom Fighter L-MRCAs entered service on on February 1, 1965. On that date, 11 F-5As and two F-5Bs arrived at the 1 Tactical Air Base at Mehrabad. These F-5s were declared operational in June 1965. The 12 RF-5As were ordered in October 1967. Subsequently, Iran in 1972 purchased a total of 104 F-5As, RF-5As and 23 F-5Bs.
This was followed by the procurement of 166 F-5Es and F-5Fs, plus 15 RF-5E tactical reconnaissance platforms between 1974 and 1976, enough to equip eight squadrons. The first F-5E/F tranche was delivered in January 1974, when 28 F-5Fs were received for operational conversion training. By this time, IIAF had disposed of virtually all of its earlier-model F-5A/B aircraft, selling them to Greece, Turkey, Ethiopia, South Vietnam, and Jordan, although some F-5Bs were retained for flying training purposes.
The order for 16 F-4Ds for the IIAF was placed in 1967. A second batch of 16 F-4Ds was ordered later. The first batch of F-4Ds arrived in Iran on September 8, 1968, with a total of 32 F-4Ds being ultimately delivered. Iran had ordered a total of 208 F-4Es and 32 RF-4Es. The first tranche of these were delivered in March 1971. A total of 177 F-4Es (plus eight F-4Es borrowed from the USAF and subsequently returned) and 16 RF-4E were delivered between 1971 and 1979. On February 28, 1979 the US government placed an embargo on further arms deliveries to Iran. Consequently, the remaining 31 F-4Es and 16 RF-4E were never delivered.
In August 1973, the IIAF selected the F-14 Tomcat as its new-generation air dominance combat aircraft, following which the initial contract was signed in January 1974 for 30 F-14s, but in June 50 more were added to the contract. At the same time, Iran’s state-owned Bank-e-Melli stepped in, and agreed to loan Grumman US$75 million to partially make up for a US government loan of $200 million to Grumman, which had just been cancelled. This loan saved the F-14’s R & DTE programme and enabled Grumman to secure a further loan of $125 million from a consortium of US banks, ensuring at least for the moment that the F-14 R & DTE programme would continue.
The principal air base for IIAF F-14 operations was at Isfahan’s Khatami Air Force Base and 1 Squadron at Shiraz Tactical Fighter Base. The first two of 79 F-14s arrived in Iran in January 1976. By May 1977, when Iran celebrated its 50th anniversary of the Pahlavi Dynasty, 12 had been delivered. The last F-14 bought by Iran was retained in the US for use as a test-bed. Iran had also ordered 714 Hughes AIM-54A Phoenix LRAAMs, but only 284 had been delivered by 1979. A follow-on order for 400 AIM-54As was never executed by the US.
On October 27, 1976, Iran placed orders for 160 General Dynamics F-16A/B Block 15 M-MRCAs, and this was followed by a follow-on order for another 140 F-16s. MRO-related equipment for the F-16s had arrived in Iran as early as 1978 (these were later sold to Pakistan in the early 1980s). However, the entire F-16 procurement contract was cancelled in 1979 at a time when the first 75 F-16s were already being prepared for delivery. Consequently, these F-16s were sold by the US to Israel’s IDF-AF.
By 1979, the IIAF was also operating 60 C-130E/H Hercules transports, 30 T-33A basic jet trainers, 40 Boeing CH-47C Chinook transport helicopters, 12 Fokker Friendship F-27 transports, two KC-747 MRTTs (out of the 10 that were ordered), 12 KC-135 MRTTs, six Sikorsky RH-53D Sea Stallions and 20 Agusta-Sikorsky AS-61A helicopters. The Imperial Iranian Navy was operating six Lockheed P-3F Orions, while the Imperial Iranian Army was operating 70 Bell 214A and 50 Bell 212 utility helicopters, plus 204 Bell AH-1J attack helicopters.
The IIAF’s airspace surveillance radar stations were located at Teheran (UK-supplied radar at Doushan Tapeh), Karadj (US-supplied radar), Tabriz (UK-supplied radar), Mashhad (UK-supplied radar), ShahrAbad (UK-supplied radar), Dezful (US-supplied radar at Dehlooran), Hamadan (US-supplied radar at Soobashi), Bushehr (UK-supplied radar), Isfahan (US-supplied radar), Bandar Abbas (US-supplied radar), Bandar Jask (US-supplied radar), Kish Island (US-supplied radar), and Chabahar (US-supplied radar).
In addition, the IIAF procured eight Westinghouse TPS-43E gapfiller radars for installation at sites like Bandar Lengeh, Bandar Taheri, Kohkilooyeh near Behbahan, Abdanaan near Dezful, and Kerend near Ghasre Shirin. More than 90% of the hardware had been delivered by 1979. All these 19 radar sites and facilities were built in less than 15 years (between 1962 and 1977). The IIAF’s Air-Defence Command, in addition to these radar sites, also had six combat aircraft from each air base on alert (2 aircraft on 5-minute alert, two on 15-minute alert and two on 30-minute alert)—a total of 60 combat aircraft at any time on any given day.
The US-supplied radars did not perform well in the hot and humid weather of the Persian Gulf. Several attempts by Westinghouse and Allied Signal/Bendix to upgrade the radars did not correct the problem. Those radars installed along the Persian Gulf and Kish Island could achieve only ‘Zero Detection’. In 1972 an extensive radar coverage optimisation study was carried out by the IIAF with the help of the USAF, FAA, and US universities and industries. A thorough search for more suitable radar sites and extensive meteorological investigations of the Persian Gulf region’s weather behavior patterns, from zero feet to 10,000 feet ASL, and inter-operability and suitability of yielding the desired interlaced-meshed radar coverage of Iranian airspace by various radar systems were conducted, which eventually led to further analysis regarding the automation of ADIZ/ADGES networks, and the deployment of AEW & C platforms. The IIAF eventually zeroed in on the E-3 AEW & CS platform, with the requirement being for eight platforms. However, only five were contracted for and the first three were ready for delivery in 1979. Unlike ground-based radars, the rotodome-mounted radars of bthe E-3 were not troubled by the ‘ducting’ phenomenon prevalent in Persian Gulf region. The E-3 order was eventually cancelled by Teheran after the Islamic Revolution and these E-3s were consequently sold by the US to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(to be concluded)