Thursday, April 24, 2014

Know your enemy. Iranian Sabalan Main Battle Tank.

info via War Machine, pics via Military Factory.

Some of the new equipment shown during the Iran Army Day Parade.
The Sabalan is a rebuilt M47 Patton Main Battle Tank, which Iran has almost 170 in service.
Upgrades includes:
1. One 105 mm M68 rifled gun.
2. Add-on composite Armor.
3. A not-so-keen-to-burn diesel engine.
4. Modern fire control system.
5. Modern communications equipment.
Iran is likely planning to upgrade their M-47 inventory to Sabalan standards rather then retire them from active service. info via War Machine.




I'm not one to discount a threat but looking at the Iranian military, I just don't see them as a threat to Israel, the Saudi's or even some of the Gulf States.

Their conventional military is weak.

Quite honestly the Saudi's are several magnitudes more advanced than the Iranians.

8 comments :

  1. Iranian "Composite Armor" = Fiberglass

    GLWT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Iranians simply do not have the industry for modern composites.

      The economy is a wreck.

      Delete
  2. I doubt its composite its probably just hunk of rolled steel just to make it angular which looks more modern. I was on a trip to Teheran couple of years ago can tel you Iranians are the biggest suckers i have ever seen for looks ,trade names etc .


    So i fully expect much o the presented upgrades to be for show first function second.

    One thing i can tell you right now there is no modern fire control in that thing as the barrel is missing the piece you measure the barrel deflection with in real time. That kind of gear is standard on tanks for at least 20 years now ,while these guys have to go outside stick something in the bore and measure the deflection of the barrel due to heat ,also notice lack of heat shield round the barrel again an indicator that this tank crew doesn't know where the barrel is pointing at, once it heats up( barrels bend in various directions due to sunlight heating one side of the barrel and/or firing but you normaly have a sensor to measure and compensate for thatin real time )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are talking about a muzzle reference system. IN the west, only post-1970s tanks have them, in the East only the newest T-90MS and Chinese Type 99 have them.

      A muzzle reference system helps when you have a computerized fire control system, which no Iranian, tank, barring possibly their Chieftans and T-72Bs, have.

      Iran has been unable to purchase ANY modern military equipment for over a decade. Iran simply doesn't have the cash to do so.

      They have had to keep upgrading or knocking off 1970s American electronics and other weapon systems just to keep weapon inventories up.

      Another reason for the lack of modernization is that the Iranian mullahs still don't trust the Army and Air Force, as they were the primary beneficiaries of American training in the 1960s and 1970s.

      However, it is unwise to discount the Iranians due to their gear.

      Even after having most of the competent officers purged or defect after the revolution, they still fought off Saddam's military, which had the full backing of the USSR, and the tacit backing of the West in the 1980s.

      The average Iranian tanker, soldier, or fighter pilot was better on an individual basis than the Iraqis, they were simply hampered by incompetent generals, and constant equipment shortages.

      Delete
  3. To be fair it it does take an old M47 tank and bring it to a standard somewhere near a M60A1 or M60A3, the latter if the fire control systems and such actually work as advertised.

    Of course you're still talking about an end product 20+ years behind the times.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hard to tell the quality of these without knowing anything about the fire control, optics or armour.
    My guess is that a Challenger, Abrams or Leopard would eat it for breakfast

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  5. Note, the shiney M-109 in the background. But then again, not having sufficient heavy weapons have rarely dented Iran's mischeviousness. Donald Rumsfeld and his buddy Saddam Hussein couldnt do it. And as a neutral party, I would still consider an antique tank equipped Iran army to be more potent than all the Arabs with their BAE's and Boeings and Raytheons. For a more detailed view on this topic, ask the Israelis.

    ReplyDelete
  6. And a very good post by Solomon. Know your enemy. I wonder if he would make this a regular weekly feature putting into spotlight the Fuck-up's as well as the good stuff that adversaries are doing, equipment wise as well as doctrine/strategy/tactics wise.

    ReplyDelete

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