On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 13:20:46 -0230, Nick Lidster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Julia Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > Nick Lidster wrote: > > > > > Irans standing power is 912,569 (2004 est.) mixture of all branches, > > > including law enforcement. 3000 troops sure isn't a large force, but > lets > > > not forget that they have an air force as well; > > > > > > mig 29 34 > > > > > > su 24 86 > > > > > > f-14 247 > > > > > > f-7 287 > > > > > > f-4 472 > > > > > > f-5 197 > > > > > > rf 4e 32 > > > > > > total 1355 <snip>
I found still online at CSIS the Military Balance in the Gulf which was produced about a year before my other source, which was another report by Anthony H. Cordesman. Iran's Total Operational Combat Aircraft, all types and quality - 304. It has Iran's High and Medium Quality of air strike craft as: Mig-29...............35 SU-24D.............30 F-14...................60 F-4E...................50 His year later report is: Mig-29......25 SU-25.........7 SU-24D....30 F-14..........25 F-4E..........66 I won't bother listing the lower quality stuff which he also doesn't bother with in the Military Balance report. I have previously stated my opinion is that he overestimates the combat ready quantities of the American planes, in this case the F-14s and F-4Es. The spare parts source for these planes are their other planes. Later he states that Iran "has acknowledged a need for Western military equipment and spare parts." He may be correct, we sold Iran a hulluva lot of planes they can use as spare parts to keep some flying. http://www.csis.org/burke/gulf/milbalingulf.pdf Iran is one of the countries used to justify deployment of the ABM SDI with some analysts believing iran could deploy an ICBM before 2015. Gary Denton #1 on google for liberal news
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
