Firebrand strategist to head Iran’s Air Force

Iran Focus ^ | 1/21/2006 | Staff

[Dark Skies]

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 21 – A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who once vowed that “no part of the Islamic world is going to be safe and secure for America” was named as the new head of the Guards’ Air Force.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a decree on Saturday, appointing Brigadier General Hossein Salami as the new commander of the Air Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Another senior Guards commander, Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Zahedi, was put in charge of the IRGC Ground Forces.

Salami is known as the father of the IRGC’s “asymmetric warfare” doctrine, which he helped to develop in the months preceding the war in Iraq. At the time, Salami was Director of Operations in the IRGC command headquarters.

The military doctrine is based on two components as strategic tools in any military confrontation: the massive use of suicide operations to target U.S. and Western interests around the world, and the use of weapons of mass destruction.

On July 4, 2004, General Salami called for the destruction of the United States during a ceremony to recruit suicide bombers that were willing to attack Western and Israeli targets.

“Now, America knows that Muslims with their desires for martyrdom have discovered a new technology and are capable of technological production. This has made [the U.S.] fear them”, Salami was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency ISNA.

In his new position as commander of the IRGC’s Air force, General Salami will be in charge of the country’s ballistic missile development project, a key component of the asymmetric warfare doctrine. Missiles are important as means of delivery for such weapons.

In November, Khamenei had appointed Salami as Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the IRGC.

In the July 2004 speech, Salami had argued for the use of oil as a weapon by Muslim countries to put pressure on the West.

Salami said that because of the strategic location and resources of the Middle East, the United States had a goal of dominating the region, but was faced with the world of Islam.

Referring to suicide attacks against Israel, Salami said, “A young group following the ideology of Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini and the [1979] Islamic revolution have started a new strategy of struggle and jihad against the Israelis”.

“With martyrdom-seeking operations, the fight against Israel has taken on a religious quality and has spread Islamic values. It was these martyrdom-seeking operations that brought about victory for the Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon”.

He said that the West and Israel were terrified of suicide operations. “Now, no part of the Islamic world is safe and secure for America, thus the U.S. cannot move forward in the region and is currently trying to secure its present location”.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was founded in the early days of the Islamic revolution in 1979 as an armed force loyal to Iran’s clerical rulers. Its commanders directly report to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and their mission is to “protect and propagate the Islamic revolution”.

The appointments come 12 days after a plane crash in northwest Iran, which killed 11 senior IRGC commanders, including the commander of the IRGC Ground Forces. The crash was a serious blow to the IRGC at a critical time when the force has been given huge powers by the Supreme Leader in the wake of the consolidation of power by the ultra-conservative faction after hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office as president.

[Kozak]

The F 15 E is a FIGHTER Bomber, and can indeed mix it up air to air. Pity the camel jockey who goes up against one, he's gonna need a flying carpet to get home....

[Squantos]

Did ya know William "hoot" Gibson who flew wild weasels then an was later Wing King at Aviano AB Italy ?

[Pukin Dog]

Oh Brother.

The F-15 would be in serious trouble against an enemy front-line fighter. It is MUCH heavier than the F-15C, and carries those conformal fuel tanks adding even MORE weight. The mission profile of the -E is precision guided bombing. It does carry missiles for self-defense, but so does the occasional A-10 Warthog, which no one would mistake for a fighter either. The -E carries a lower sustained G rating, due to its heavier airframe, meaning it cannot maneuver anything like the F-15C.

These are facts.

[Jabba the Nutt]

C-SPAN broadcast a speech by Supreme Guardian Ali Khamenei to Iran's Air Force on 2/14/05. Go here to watch the video. Two things struck me, both dealing with the audience. One, they were bored out of their skulls and two, how old, sloppy, out of shape and unprofessional this military looked like.

[Pukin Dog]

Let me tell you what is most likely to happen in Iran:

First, there will be a series of precision strikes against Iran's military infrastructure(command and control) combined with attacks against SOME of the nuclear facilities.

Next, there will be a ground invasion designed in coordination with Iran resistance to remove the Islamic leadership from power.

This exercise will very much resemble the attack against the Taliban, where the primary goal is only to remove the offending organization. Iran will become a democracy and dismantle their Nukes on their own with help from the IAEA.

[RedMonqey]

I saw that episode.


Loved Monty Python!

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Next, there will be a ground invasion designed in coordination with Iran resistance to remove the Islamic leadership from power.

And exactly which countries will carry out this ground invasion? In the (remote) event that Iran attacks US troops in Iraq, I fully support repelling the attack. Please clarify *who* should respond in the event that Germany, France, or Belgium is targeted.

[hinckley buzzard]

These guys sure can run their mouths well. Going to be interesting to see "what kind of chops they got".

Yeah. Considering how well their theories of asymmetrical warfare did against the lackluster Iraqi Army for eight years. Lot of big mouths writing checks their muscle can't cash.

[hinckley buzzard]

create conditions that will raise global oil prices, something they have not been able to accomplish through OPEC.

uh...haven't global oil prices in recent months been hovering around all time highs?

But I agree, a lot of this signifyin' is for internal consumption. Iran seems to be more fractured and less stable politically than the lazy whores and jerkoffs of the western media have understood, and they give a false picture of the country's putative unity.

[Jabba the Nutt]

I don't think we have to worry about Iran's old Soviet-era "airforce."

I don't know what the Iranians have got since 1979, but they had a "70's era US Air Force". No spare parts from the US since then.

[hinckley buzzard]

Iran's alignment with Syria is not to be taken lightly,

Why? Syria has no military in the functioning sense of the word, and they don't even have any oil to speak of. We could occupy Syria in a weekend just with a spare division on TDY from Iraq, and never miss a beat anywhere else, and the Israelis would relish the opportunity to put paid to the Hezbollahs and Hamas and Islamic Jihadis and whatever other stray packs of rabid dogs are hiding there eating garbage outside Damascus.

[Pukin Dog]

Look, try not to fall into that trap of believing that our forces in Iraq constitute the bulk of our military, because they don't. Our forces are constructed to fight and win TWO major conflicts at a time. Iraq is winding down.

Beyond that, it would not take more than 30-50K troops to invade Iran. Their forces were almost completely wiped out fighting against Iraq. Their Air Force is a joke, and their Army would rather fight WITH us, rather then against us.

We would fight an insurgency for sure, but the need for huge numbers of combat troops is not there.

[freedumb2003]

I am assuming they got some tech from the Soviets in the 80's.

I suspect Iran's airforce is on par with the Iraqi Airforce in Desert Storm.

It lasted, what, 4 hours?

[Kozak]

F-15E Strike Eagle Although the slogan of the F-15's original design team was "Not a pound for air-to-ground," the F-15 has long been recognized as having superior potential in the ground attack role. In 1987 this potential was realized in the form of the F-15E Strike Eagle. The mission of the Strike Eagle is as succinct as that of its air-to-air cousin: to put bombs on target. The F-15E is especially configured for the deep strike mission, venturing far behind enemy lines to attack high value targets with a variety of munitions. The Strike Eagle accomplishes this mission by expanding on the capabilities of the air superiority F-15, adding a rear seat WSO (Weapon Systems Operator) crewmember and incorporating an entirely new suite of air-to-ground avionics.

The F-15E is a two seat, two engine dual role fighter capable of speeds up to MACH 2.5. The F-15E performs day and night all weather air-to-air and air-to-ground missions including strategic strike, interdiction, OCA and DCA. Although primarily a deep interdiction platform, the F-15E can also perform CAS and Escort missions. Strike Eagles are equipped with LANTIRN, enhancing night PGM delivery capability. The F-15E outbord and inboard wing stations and the centerline can be load with various armament. The outboard wing hardpoint are unable to carry heavy loads and are assign for ECM pods. The other hardpoints can be employed for various loads but with the use of multiple ejection racks (MERs). Each MER can hold six Mk-82 bombs or "Snakeye" retarded bombs, or six Mk 20 "Rockeye" dispensers, four CBU-52B, CBU- 58B, or CBU-71B dispensers, a single Mk-84 (907 kg) bomb F- 15E can carry also "smart" weapons, CBU-10 laser quided bomb based on the Mk 84 bomb, CBU-12, CBU-15, or another, laser, electro-optical, or infra-red guided bomb (including AGM-G5 "Marerick" air-to-ground) missiles.

Conformal Fuel Tanks were introduced with the F-15C in order to extend the range of the aircraft. The CFTs are carried in pairs and fit closely to the side of the aircraft, with one CFT underneath each wing. By designing the CFT to minimize the effect on aircraft aerodynamics, much lower drag results than if a similar amount of fuel is carried in conventional external fuel tanks. This lower drag translate directly into longer aircraft ranges, a particularly desirable characteristic of a deep strike fighter like the F-15E. As with any system, the use of CFTs on F-15s involves some compromise. The weight and drag of the CFTs (even when empty) degrades aircraft performance when compared to external fuel tanks, which can be jettisoned when needed (CFTs are not jettisonable and can only be downloaded by maintenance crews). As a result, CFTs are typically used in situations where increased range offsets any performance drawbacks. In the case of the F-15E, CFTs allow air-to-ground munitions to be loaded on stations which would otherwise carry external fuel tanks. In general, CFT usage is the norm for F15Es and the exception for F-15C/D's.

The F-15E Strike Eagle’s tactical electronic warfare system [TEWS] is an integrated countermeasures system. Radar, radar jammer, warning receiver and chaff/flare dispenser all work together to detect, identify and counter threats posed by an enemy. For example, if the warning receiver detects a threat before the radar jammer, the warning receiver will inform the jammer of the threat. A Strike Eagle’s TEWS can jam radar systems operating in high frequencies, such as radar used by short-range surface-to-air missiles, antiaircraft artillery and airborne threats. Current improvements to TEWS will enhance the aircraft’s ability to jam enemy radar systems. The addition of new hardware and software, known as Band 1.5, will round out the TEWS capability by jamming threats in mid-to-low frequencies, such as long-range radar systems. The equipment is expected to go into full production sometime in late 1999.

The Defense Department plans to sustain production of the F-15E for at least two more years, purchasing three aircraft in both FY 1998 and FY 1999. Without FY 1998 procurement, the F-15 production line would begin to close in the absence of new foreign sales. These six additional aircraft, together with the six aircraft approved by Congress in FY 1997, will sustain the present 132-plane combat force structure until about FY 2016. Under current plans by 2030, the last F-15C/D models will have been phased out of the inventory and replaced by the F-22.

It's still a better fighter then 99% of the stuff out there.

[Kozak]

Looks Iran is trying to have life immitate art....

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Look, try not to fall into that trap of believing that our forces in Iraq constitute the bulk of our military, because they don't.

This is true. Our entire force projection and capability is unknown. Suffice that we shall not be over extended. Our force protection is excellent. My contention is that a COMBINED force structure is most appropriate. Not that it could not be done on a unilateral basis.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Syria has no military in the functioning sense of the word,Not to be rude, yet some may wish to research this assertion. Any country that has occupied another for more than 5 years must be recognized.

[Pukin Dog]

You really ought to save your energy.

I have flown against the F-15, both C and E. A few thousand more words is not going to sway me against my own experiences. Maybe while you are out doing all this research, you might look up VF-143?

Sheesh.

[RedMonqey]

They picked the right genre.....farce.

[DoNotDivide]

This is a recipe for Iranian national suicide martyrdom in Ahmadejihad's and his followers' blind eyes.