Cordesman/Wilner, Iran & The Gulf Military Balance Rev 3
AHC 2/29/12
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65’ Mark III patrol boat: Number in service: 10 Displacement: 28-36 tons Crew: 5 Speed: 26 kts Armament: Variable. Armament can consist of 12.7mm heavy machine guns, 7.62mm machine guns, Mk 16 20mm cannon, Mk 19 40mm grenade launcher, Mk3 40mm Bofors cannon, Mk4 60mm, or Mk2 81mm mortar. Small arms.
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Pashe (MIG-G-1900): Based on US patrol boats. Reportedly armed with a ZU-23 23mm cannon. Also equipped with surface search/navigation radar.
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Ghaem (MIG-S-1800): IRGCN patrol craft. Armament reportedly limited to small arms.
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Kashdom-II inshore patrol craft: Number in service: 15 Displacement: 17.5 tons Speed: 50 kts Armament: 1 x 23mm cannon, 1 x 12.7 mm heavy machine gun
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Peterson patrol boat: Number in service: 30 Displacement: 20.1 tons Crew: 5 Speed: 26 kts Armament: 2 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns
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BH-7 “Wellington” Mk5 hovercraft: Number in service: 2-6 Displacement: 50 tons Speed: 30-60 kts Armament: 2 x C-802 anti-ship missiles, 2 x 12.7mm heavy machine guns
These craft are capable of carrying machine guns, rockets, missiles, and torpedoes, and can be adapted for to lay mines. These assets, while unsophisticated, could be used to swarm US ships and overwhelm their defenses through sheer mobility and volume of fire. Alternatively, they could be used to conduct sporadic attacks in a long battle of attrition operating unpredictably from bases or hidden small sites anywhere in the Gulf or outside it. Shore and Ship-based ASCMs. 9596 Iran possesses a large number of shore, ship-based, and air-launched anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles (ACSMs), most of which are operated by elements of the IRGC. These assets include shore batteries of ASCMs along Iran’s coast and on its islands in the Gulf, many of which are on mobile launchers. It is notable that the US never successfully targeted Iraq’s anti-ship missile assets during the war to liberate Kuwait although they were deployed along a far smaller coastal 95
IISS Military Balance 2011
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“Iranian Military Capability 2011.” Open Source Intelligence Project 2011. January 2011.
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