rollerboy said:
By the end of the Iran-Iraq war, 1988, Iraq had grown far stronger militarily than it was at during early stages of the war. Reportedly, Iraq ended the war with military superiority.
But superior to what? It's neighbours or other countries such Britain, France and the US for example? Iraq certainly had a vast tank fleet, but during that bloody 8 year conflict they did not use their armour forces in a way similar to that of NATO or Warsaw Pact forces. Iraqi use of armour wasn't that far off of they tanks were used in WW1 or by some countries in the early years of WW2.
rollerboy said:
In the years between the Iran-Iraq war, and the Gulf War in '91, Saddam continued to build his military apparatus. The Iraqi military which US forces dismanted in '91 was, if anything, stronger than the one faced by the Iranians.
Perhaps so. The Iraqi Army certainly had a big influx of T-72 MBT's from Russia and other countries. But the T-72 has proven itself to be a poor tank. It's more venerable to anti-mines than its western counterparts and too often brews up very quickly when hit and penetrated.
A bit off topic, an interesting point is during the war some countries were selling arms to Iraq AND Iran such as the former USSR, China, and Brazil.
rollerboy said:
Iran also had advanced weapons such as F14's, Hawk missiles, Chieftain tanks, which were either expended fighting Iraq, or long since cannibalized for parts. Iranian military power, outside of WMD's and ballistic missiles, has probably regressed.
Canada once considered buying those F-14's from Iran who had put them up for sale after the revolution. To me, I thought the US would have been very happy to have those 80-90 F-14's taken out of Iranian possession and go to a close ally. But no, the Reagan adminstration was furious at Canada and any other country that contemplated those F-14's.
With a lot of it's air force using American aircraft the availability of spare parts became a huge problem for the Iranians. Besides the F-14 Tomcats they also had F-4 Phantoms and F-5 Freedom Fighters. Of the F-14's I believe less than 2 dozen were operational.
The Chieftain MBT's used by the Iranian Army, and captured ones used by the Iraqis, proved to be somewhat unsuitable. Speficially the engine tended to overheat as it wasn't really powerful enough to move the 55-60 ton beast. Otherwise great armour and a great gun.
rollerboy said:
http://www.milnet.com/Iranian-Military.html
The hardline government has likely shifted much of the resurgent oil wealth to military modernization. Yet even with complete modernization of its air force, I don't see any way that Iran could avoid losing control of its airspace. After that, sustained aerial bombardment would paralyze and degrade its ground forces. WMD's are their only serious threat in a full fledged war.
Mordenize, but buying from who? If you're looking for local superiority then getting something better than your neighbour's is ok. Afterall most of the countries in the region are still dependent on older tanks like the T-55. If Iran is looking to directly take on Israel for instance, despite the distance between the two, then where are the Iranians going to get tanks that can match the Merkavas of the IDF? For that matter the M1A1 Abrams the Saudis uses? Unless one is depending a heavily overwhelming numbers there isn't much that can match most western military equipment.
