What if: the Shah of Iran shopping list (Imperial Iran's Military in 1985)

[lordroel]

What if: the Shah of Iran shopping list (Imperial Iran's Military in 1985)

Under the Shah, Imperial Iran was well on the way to having one of the most powerful militaries in the world. By 1985, it would have had a military almost a quarter the size of the United States in most areas, armed with tens of billions of dollars worth of imported military equipment.

Imperial Iranian Army

The Imperial Iranian Army would have 2000 Challenger 1 main battle tanks, supported by hundreds of older M60 Patton and Chieftain tanks, as well as hundreds of M551 Sheridan, FV101 Scorpion, and BMP-1 light tanks. Thousands of M113 and BTR-40, BTR-50, and BTR-60 vehicles would be in service as APCs and IFVs.

Imperial Iranian Air force

The Imperial Iranian Air Force would have the following aircraft:

Fighter Aircraft 

150 F-14 Tomcat interceptors
90 F-15 Eagle fighters
250 F/A-18 Hornet multirole aircraft
225 F-4 Phantom fighter/bombers (32 F-4Ds, 177 F-4Es, and 16 RF-4Es )
300 F-16 Falcon multirole aircraft
181 F-5E/F Tiger II fighters

Attack Aircraft

70 A-10 Warthog attack aircraft

AWACS and Tanker aircraft

10 E-3 Sentry early warning and control aircraft
12 KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft

Transport Aircraft 

15 Fokker F27 transport and VIP aircraft.
4 Boeing 707s transport and VIP aircraft.
42 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

Maritime patrol aircraft

12 P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft

Helicopters 

AH-64 Apache
AH-1 Super Cobra attack helicopters
UH-60 Black Hawk
CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters (140 Elicotteri Meridionali built CH-47Cs)

Imperial Iranian Navy

The Imperial Iranian Navy would also be very well equipped:

light aircraft carriers

3 Invincible-class aircraft carriers.

Cruisers

2 Ticonderoga class-cruisers
9 Belknap class-cruisers

Destroyers

4 Kidd class-destroyers (Kouroush,Daryush,Nader and Anoshirvan).
6 Spruance class-destroyers
6 Type 42 class-destroyers
2 Allen M. Sumner class-destroyers (Babr and Palang).
1 Battle class-destroyers (Artemiz).

Frigates

8 Kortenaer class-frigates
10 Knox class-frigates
4 Alvand class-frigates (Saam,Zaal,Rostam and Faramarz).

Corvettes

8 Bayandor class-corvettes (Bayandor, Naghdi, Milanian and Kahnamoie).
6 Grisha class-corvettes

Submarines

6 Type 209 class-submarines
6 Type 206 class-submarines
3 Tang class-submarines 

Amphibious assault ships

2 Tarawa class-amphibious assault ships
2 Iwo Jima class-amphibious assault ships

Fast attack craft

12 La Combattante IIa class-fast attack craft
16 Osa class-fast attack craft

In addition to this, Iran would have an extensive network of Patriot air defense missiles, P-15 Termit and Exocet anti-ship missiles, and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Thanks to Delta Force forum called What If Machine

[stevep]

Interesting. I can't remember any Iranian interest in the Invincible class CVs. Do you happen to know if those were planned to be additional builds or assuming Thatcher sold all three of the original builds to Iran? Not sure how useful they would be in the enclosed waters of the Persian Gulf but might give his navy some additional abilities in the Indian Ocean.

  By the way I can't see a link to the Wiki source?

[lordroel]

Nov 3, 2017 16:00:07 GMT stevep said:

Interesting. I can't remember any Iranian interest in the Invincible class CVs. Do you happen to know if those were planned to be additional builds or assuming Thatcher sold all three of the original builds to Iran? Not sure how useful they would be in the enclosed waters of the Persian Gulf but might give his navy some additional abilities in the Indian Ocean.

  By the way I can't see a link to the Wiki source?

Sorry about the link will remove it.

The wiki article of the Invincible-class aircraft carrier says.

In the mid-1970s, the Shah of Iran expressed interest in acquiring three Invincible-class ships and a fleet of twenty-five Sea Harriers to provide fleet defence. When the Iranian Navy could not provide sufficient personnel for manning the vessels and the Royal Navy began to lose interest in the project, the ship order was cancelled in 1976. A later proposal to buy four "Harrier-type" vessels was also discarded, as were later negotiations to buy the Sea Harrier.


Probably should add some Sea Harriers to the list of aircraft in use with the Imperial Iranian Air force.

[stevep]

Nov 3, 2017 19:18:46 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 3, 2017 16:00:07 GMT stevep said:

Interesting. I can't remember any Iranian interest in the Invincible class CVs. Do you happen to know if those were planned to be additional builds or assuming Thatcher sold all three of the original builds to Iran? Not sure how useful they would be in the enclosed waters of the Persian Gulf but might give his navy some additional abilities in the Indian Ocean.

  By the way I can't see a link to the Wiki source?

Sorry about the link will remove it.

The wiki article of the Invincible-class aircraft carrier says.

In the mid-1970s, the Shah of Iran expressed interest in acquiring three Invincible-class ships and a fleet of twenty-five Sea Harriers to provide fleet defence. When the Iranian Navy could not provide sufficient personnel for manning the vessels and the Royal Navy began to lose interest in the project, the ship order was cancelled in 1976. A later proposal to buy four "Harrier-type" vessels was also discarded, as were later negotiations to buy the Sea Harrier.


Probably should add some Sea Harriers to the list of aircraft in use with the Imperial Iranian Air force.

  Interesting.  I wonder why the RN would have lost interest if it meant extra work for the naval shipyards keeping capacity up.  Unless the Labour government at the time was hinting that if they were being built for Iran there was less need for them for the RN.  [Pretty stupid but they were probably more interested in maintaining employment than boosting the military, as opposed to the Thatcherite view of claiming to boost defence while cutting everything!]  Possibly the weakness of the Iranians to operate the ships was more important.

[lordroel]

Nov 4, 2017 11:42:00 GMT stevep said:

Nov 3, 2017 19:18:46 GMT lordroel said:

Sorry about the link will remove it.

The wiki article of the Invincible-class aircraft carrier says.

In the mid-1970s, the Shah of Iran expressed interest in acquiring three Invincible-class ships and a fleet of twenty-five Sea Harriers to provide fleet defence. When the Iranian Navy could not provide sufficient personnel for manning the vessels and the Royal Navy began to lose interest in the project, the ship order was cancelled in 1976. A later proposal to buy four "Harrier-type" vessels was also discarded, as were later negotiations to buy the Sea Harrier.


Probably should add some Sea Harriers to the list of aircraft in use with the Imperial Iranian Air force.

  Interesting.  I wonder why the RN would have lost interest if it meant extra work for the naval shipyards keeping capacity up.  Unless the Labour government at the time was hinting that if they were being built for Iran there was less need for them for the RN.  [Pretty stupid but they were probably more interested in maintaining employment than boosting the military, as opposed to the Thatcherite view of claiming to boost defence while cutting everything!]  Possibly the weakness of the Iranians to operate the ships was more important.

If the Imperial Iranian Navy kept expanding, i think by 1985 they would have the manpower to operate them.

[stevep]

Nov 4, 2017 12:11:54 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 4, 2017 11:42:00 GMT stevep said:

  Interesting.  I wonder why the RN would have lost interest if it meant extra work for the naval shipyards keeping capacity up.  Unless the Labour government at the time was hinting that if they were being built for Iran there was less need for them for the RN.  [Pretty stupid but they were probably more interested in maintaining employment than boosting the military, as opposed to the Thatcherite view of claiming to boost defence while cutting everything!]  Possibly the weakness of the Iranians to operate the ships was more important.

If the Imperial Iranian Navy kept expanding, i think by 1985 they would have the manpower to operate them.

  Possibly although it needs a lot of trained manpower, not just in the crews themselves but in the supporting shore facilities as well.  Would need a hell of a lot of investment in education and training for that.  Although if oil prices remained high Iran could afford it.

[lordroel]

Nov 5, 2017 11:42:24 GMT stevep said:

Nov 4, 2017 12:11:54 GMT lordroel said:

If the Imperial Iranian Navy kept expanding, i think by 1985 they would have the manpower to operate them.

  Possibly although it needs a lot of trained manpower, not just in the crews themselves but in the supporting shore facilities as well.  Would need a hell of a lot of investment in education and training for that.  Although if oil prices remained high Iran could afford it.

And the shah liked big toys, if he could i bet he would have bought a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.