Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
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The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) (Persian: نیروی هوایی ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران ) is the aviation branch of the Iranian armed forces.
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[edit] History
The IRIAF came into being when the former Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF) was re-named following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, in February 1979.
This "new" Iranian air force largely inherited the equipment and structure of the former IIAF, even losing most of its leading officers in the course of post-revolutionary chaos, as well as due to the prosecution of those considered as loyal to the Shah, pro-U.S. or elsewhere by the new regime in Tehran.
A series of purges and forced retirements resulted in the manpower of the service being halved between February 1979 and July 1980, leaving the IRIAF ill-prepared for the Iran-Iraq War (also called the "I Persian Gulf War"). The sudden Iraqi air strikes against six Iranian airfields and four other military installations, launched on the afternoon of 22 September 1980, came as a complete surprise and caused a shock in the IRIAF. Nevertheless, they caused little damage, and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force retaliated fiercely to the invasion, flying strikes involving up to 140 McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs against main Iraqi airfields, oil industry installations, and communications sites. Intense Iranian activity inside Iraqi air space during the first week of the war eventually forced the Iraqi Air Force onto the defensive. In addition to striking Iraqi airfields, the IRIAF badly damaged most of the Iraqi oil producing- and exporting facilities, resulting in Baghdad's decision to stop all oil exports for several years.
Following a one week long counter-air campaign, and due to a critical situation on the ground in the Khuzestan Province, the IRIAF was thrown into the land-battle, mainly in the areas of Khorramshahr, Ahwaz, and Dezful. Here, the IRIAF's performace and superiority over the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) surprised most informed observers. Its air strikes against armour- and supply-columns sapped the offensive strength of Iraqi military. Due to heavy losses in troops and armour, Iranian air superiority, as well as an interruption of supply systems, the Iraqis had to stop their offensive, and then became involved in extremely bitter land-battles against Iranian ground forces.
The IRIAF paid a heavy price for this success, losing dozens of its best pilots and aircraft between September and December 1980.
Although the readiness rates of the IRIAF significantly increased in the following months, its overall role and influence declined, as the clerical regime searched to put the emphasis in fighting on the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) militias, but also attempted to develop a separate air arm for this service.
After the successful liberation of most Iranian areas captured by the Iraqis, in late spring 1982, the situation of the IRIAF changed completely. From an air arm that was offensive by nature, it was largely relegated to air defence- and, relatively seldom, tasks of flying bombing attacks against targets of industrial- and military significance inside Iraq. Simultaneously, the IRIAF had to learn to maintain and keep operational its large fleet of U.S.-built aircraft and helicopters without outside help. Reaching back on equipment purchased from the U.S.A. in the 1970s, the Iranians began establishing their own aerospace industry; their efforts in this remained largely unrecognised until recently.
From 1984 and 1985, the IRIAF found itself confronted by an ever better organised and equipped opponent, as the IrAF - reinforced by deliveries of advanced fighter-bombers from France and the Soviet Union - launched offensives against Iranian population centres and oil-export hubs. These became better known as "The Tanker War" and "The War of the Cities". To defend against an increasing number of Iraqi air strikes, the IRIAF leaned heavily on its large fleet of Grumman F-14 Tomcat air superiority fighters. Tomcats were mainly deployed in defence of the strategically important Khark Island (main hub for Iranian oil exports), and Tehran. Over 300 air-to-air engagements against IrAF fighters, fighter-bombers, and bombers, were fought in these areas alone between 1980 and 1988.
Confronted with the fact that it could not obtain replacements for equipment lost in what became a war of attrition against Iraq, for the rest of the conflict, the IRIAF remained defense-oriented, conserving its surviving assets as a "force in being". From late 1987, the IRIAF found itself confronted also with U.S. Navy fighters over the Persian Gulf. A number of confrontations that occurred between August 1987 and April 1988, stretched available IRIAF assets to the limit, almost exhausting its capability to defend Iranian air space against Iraqi air strikes.
Immediately after the end of Iran-Iraq War, the IRIAF was partially re-built by limited purchases of MiG-29 fighters and Su-24 bombers from the Soviet Union, as well as F-7M fighters from China. While a welcome reinforcement, these types never replaced the older, U.S.-built F-4 Phantoms or F-14 Tomcats (now the only airforce to continue using the retired fighter), or even Northrop F-5 Tiger IIs. Instead, the IRIAF continued efforts to maintain these types in service, and began a number of projects with the intention to refurbish and upgrade them. A Russian attempt to sell a large number of MiG-27s, MiG-31s, and Tupolev Tu-22Ms to Iran, launched in 1993, was spoiled by the lack of interest and money on the part of Iran, but since 2000 on multiple occasions Mig-31s have been seen in Iran's airspace though no official declaration by IRIAF.
In the early 1990s Iran signed a military contract with the USSR to purchase an unknown number of Su-27s; the delivery of the planes wasn't completed for more than a decade due to US pressure. Recently, Iran is thought to have received an unknown variant of the Su-27. Unconfirmed reports reveal their deployment at air bases in Tabriz.
Following an agreement between the regimes in Baghdad in Tehran, in February 1991 a significant number of IrAF aircraft were evacuated to Iranian airfields. The Iranians impounded these aircraft subsequently. The IRIAF has taken all the 36 Su-24MKs and 24 Mirage F.1EQ/BQs flown from Iraq, while all the other types - including 40 Su-20/22s and at least ten MiG-23s of various versions - were stored.
The IRIAF composition changed very little since 1979. The first, very limited re-location of several units - including disbandment of some, and establishing of new squadrons - occurred in autumn 1980, when the F-4D-fleet was concentrated at Shiraz, two squadrons of F-4Es moved from Shiraz to Hamedan, and a squadron of F-14 Tomcats deployed to Mehrabad. Other deployments during the war with Iraq were mainly of temporary character, even if a major re-organisation of existing air-defence assets - foremost SAM- and AAA-units - was undertaken in 1985. There has been no major re-organisation during all of the 1990s either.
In the last several years several new airfields have been constructed in central- and eastern Iran. Some of these facilities have since seen full-scale deployments of IRIAF units, and it now appears that at least two became permanent "Tactical Fighter Bases" (TFBs). These are the first such bases established since 1979. Except new airfields, with Chinese support, the IRIAF constructed also a number of new early warning radar sites around the country. Its ability to control the national airspace, however, remains limited - mainly due to the rugged terrain and lack of airborne early warning assets.
Aside from maintaining 14 TFBs, the IRIAF operates numerous temporary detachments on several minor airfields around the country. Ex-Iraqi Mirage F.1EQs, usually based at TFB.14, near Mashhad, were frequently seen over the Persian Gulf, in 2005 and 2006.
Equipment, capabilities and combat performance of the IRIAF strongly influenced the development of the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF), during the 1980s, but also that of the United Arab Emirates Air Force, in the 1990s and the most recent times.
[edit] Markings
The IRIAF markings are only slightly different to those used by the IIAF.
The main difference is addition of the word "Allah", in red, on the white field of the fin flash, and the text "Allah-u-Akhbar", in white, on the bottom of the green, and the top of the red field.
The roundel remains the same as used before.
The word "Allah" is applied also on a number of F-5 Tiger IIs on the top of the fin, and undersides of the port (left) wing of IRIAF F-14 Tomcats.
[edit] See also
[edit] Official sites
[edit] External links
- Iranian Military Pictures & videos
- Video of the Iranian Air Force
- (in Persian) 22 min documentary on the manufacture of Iran's indigenous "Shahed-278" helicopter
| Military of the Islamic Republic of Iran | Image:Flag of Iran.svg | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iranian Army | Iranian Navy | Iranian Air Force | IRGC | |||||
fa:نیروی هوایی ارتش جمهوری اسلامی ایران fr:Armée de l'air iranienne
