[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Iran has poured a tremendous amount of money into
its weapons industry. They have the money to hire a lot of experts from
Russia and elsewhere. They also sent Iranians to study at top universities
around the world. Are all the Iranian announcements just talk? There is
one area that is hard to fake: you can't get away with announcing a fake
satellite launch without being ridiculed. And they have launched
satellites. Are the satellites the exception or are the other announcements
equally true? ]

Iran’s War Preparations
Israel and the West are not the only countries preparing for a large-scale
military operation against Iran's nuclear facilities. The Iranians, in
exchange, are honing in on their enemies as well. IsraelDefense outlines
Iran's air, space, sea, ground, and cyber preparations

Moriya Ben-Yosef 4/2/2012
http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=884

Anti-ship missile C-802 (Photo: AP) In early November, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei warned, "Any country attacking Iran better be prepared to suffer
retaliation from the Iranian armed forces. Anyone thinking about invading
the Islamic Republic of Iran better be able to withstand a powerful response
from the Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian army."

The recent report published by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
explains that once Iran decides to manufacture a nuclear bomb, it will only
take a few months to assemble. In Israel and the West, this report
intensified discussions on the need for an all-out attack on Iran's nuclear
facilities.

So far, Western media has focused on questions concerning a possible Israeli
and/or Western attack. What has yet to be discussed is what Iran is doing to
counter an inevitable clash.

For several years, the Iranians have publicized their military capabilities
in an effort to deter an attack. Occasionally, they unveil a new, locally
produced, state-of-the-art weapon based on foreign technologies.

"In reality, their conventional military forces are poor," says Yiftah
Shapir, a senior research fellow and director at the Institute for National
Security Studies’ Middle East Military Balance Project. "Looking at the
layout of Iran’s conventional forces, they have a large but antiquated army
that has suffered from cutbacks and sanctions in recent years. Since they
find it difficult to procure new advanced weapons, they have begun to
produce their own. Every two months or so, we hear of something new:
airplanes, helicopters, missiles, weapons systems, radar, and so forth.

"True, we must not underestimate Iran’s industry, as in the past it received
assistance from North Korea, and today, knowledge flows in the opposite
direction in some areas. Still, Tehran's public announcements should be
viewed with some degree of skepticism. The question is: what do they have
and what is actually operational?" mulls Shapir.

Mickey Segal, a senior research fellow at Terrogence Company and the
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and former head of the Iranian Desk in
the Research Department at the Directorate of Military Intelligence says,
"The Iranians believe that the revolutions in the Arab world play into their
hands. From their viewpoint, the old regimes are being pushed out and being
replaced by the Islamic organizations. As they see it, they are the next
‘big thing.’ They expect nuclear weapons to increase their influence."

Defense, defense, defense

The Iranian government invests enormous sums of money in an effort to
conceal their numerous nuclear sites. The main sites are the uranium
enrichment plant in Natanz, the conversion plant in Isfahan (where the
November 2011 explosion occurred), the nuclear power station in Bushehr, and
the uranium enrichment plant near Qom that remains under construction.

Many of the facilities are underground and shielded by a concrete-reinforced
ceiling and walls up to two and a half meters thick.

"From the outset, they built facilities underground and concentrated their
efforts on the surrounding air defenses," says Dr. Ephraim Kam, principle
research fellow and deputy director of the Institute for National Security
Studies (INSS).

The Iranians spend huge sums of money on camouflage. According to Western
assessments, Russia supplies Iran with the technological means to hide its
nuclear facilities. During the Cold War, Russia developed special camouflage
nets capable of blocking the view from space, including thermal sensors and
synthetic aperture radars (SAR). In addition, it is likely that Iran also
employs advanced methods to distort a facility’s geometric pattern and
render them unidentifiable by spy satellites and UAVs equipped with optical
payloads.

Besides camouflage, Iran is doubling efforts to reinforce its air defense
layout, especially its anti-aircraft systems—even though these consist
mainly of antiquated anti-aircraft missiles acquired from foreign sources or
produced domestically. These include Russian SA-5s for intermediate to
long-range interception, SA-2s for intermediate and very high altitudes, and
an Iranian-made Shahin version of the American Hawks (that the Iranians
claim can reach an altitude of forty kilometers). They also possess several
advanced SA-15 units that they received from Russia around five years ago,
and frequently release photos of their batteries deployed near the Bushehr
Nuclear Power Plant.

"Few of the systems pose an immediate threat to advanced Western aircraft,”
asserts Tal Inbar, head of the Space and UAV Research Center at the Fisher
Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies. Inbar asserts that,
"Following Russia's refusal to supply Iran with advanced S-300 missile
systems (that have a range of over 100 kilometers)—a result of American and
Israeli pressure—Iran now claims that it succeeded in developing an improved
version of the S-300 (that it calls Bavar-373). Official Iranian sources
note that the system performs better than the Russian missiles—but this is
an empty claim.”

Be that as it may, the Iranians seem to have managed to get ahold of a
Chinese version of the S-300, designated HQ9, and on the basis of this
imitation, they have developed their own system. Israeli sources recently
acknowledged that Iran is beginning to produce multi-layered systems that
will further complicate any operation against its nuclear sites. Iran also
tried to obtain a number of Russia’s Pantsir-1 anti-aircraft missile systems
from Syria. The system's development was financed by the United Emirates and
became operational in Russia only last year. It is uncertain whether it has
been transferred to other countries since then.

Planes

Most aircrafts in the Iranian air force are aging Russian-made planes that
Iraq transferred to Iran during the First Gulf War. The Iranians also have
some old F-4 Phantoms and F-14 Tomcats that the Americans delivered when the
Shah was in power.

Iran’s first line of fighters is compromised of MiG-29s purchased from
Russia in the early 1990s, as-well-as the aging F-14s purchased from the US.
In late 2007, Iran announced that it was developing two new fighters: the
Azaraksh (Lightning) and the Saeqeh (Thunderbolt); both are based on
outdated American F-5s.

"The Iranians claim that these planes perform better than F-18s. The truth
is that they still look like F-5s, but have an extra tail (stabilizer) added
to resemble the F-18s. It is doubtful that the Iranians succeeded in
developing the avionics and other systems necessary to retrofit an airplane
into a first-class modern weapon. Still, Iran has made impressive advances
in the maintenance of its systems through improvisation and the acquisition
of spare parts from the black market. They are also experts at cannibalizing
parts from planes and missiles. For example, they can disassemble twenty old
planes in order to keep thirty others in flying condition," explains Yiftah
Shapir.

Iran also has several dozen Cobra attack helicopters from the 1970s,
Bell-205s and 214s, and MI-171s that they bought from the Russians a decade
ago.

In recent years, Iran has made significant progress in developing and
producing UAVs, some of which are capable of carrying munitions. Last year,
Iran announced they had developed an attack UAV armed with a bomb, while
referring to their jet-propelled air vehicle (which is based on an outdated
American target drone that was later manufactured by South Africa).
According to Mickey Segal, the Iranians are currently working on two UAVs:
one for attack—the Karrar (Striker), and the other for attack and
reconnaissance—the Ababil (Swallow). These UAVs appear to be pre-programmed,
and not controlled in real-time.

The Iranian developers of the UAV layout will probably glean valuable
technical information from the recent capture of an American RQ-170 Sentinel
surveillance drone. The stealth UAV malfunctioned during a reconnaissance
operation over Iran in early December 2011, and was picked up by Iranian
security forces. American military sources note that, "Iran gained a great
prize from a technological point of view by getting its hands on the RQ-170,
one of the most advanced UAVs in the world."

Radar

Today, Iran possesses a number of outdated European radars, such as the
British AR-3D for air defense and an unknown quantity of Chinese JY-14s
acquired in the late 1990s. Last June, during a weapons exhibition in memory
of Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranians gave a sneak peak at a phased array
radar that is considered one of the most advanced of its kind. According to
Tal Inbar, the first analyst in Israel to identify the radar, "The Iranians
didn’t officially reveal the radar, but it can be seen peeking out behind
Khamenei in the exhibition. They claim that it was their own development,
and at face value, the system appears genuine."

Only in late 2011 did the Iranians hold a large-scale air defense exercise,
to evaluate the performance and operability of intelligence and
communications equipment designed to "protect sensitive sites around the
country." Mickey Segal believes that during their latest exercise, the
Iranian successfully tested a locally produced wide-range-frequency
passive-radar-detection system. Rapid response units using modern EW
(electronic warfare) equipment succeeded in jamming a simulated enemy’s
radar and communications systems. Tests were also carried out on the latest
fiber-optic communication equipment and electro-optic systems for
air-defense detection.

In the second stage of the exercise, Iran's air-defense forces quickly
jammed enemy combat aircraft and employed active and passive means to
protect their own radar network and communication lines.

Naval defense

The Iranians have gone to great lengths to thwart a naval attack. After
spending endless hours developing anti-ship missile systems, they have
produced their own version of the Chinese C-802 and the Khalij Fars (Persian
Gulf) anti-ship ballistic missile, based on the Fatah-110 surface-to-surface
missile technology. Both weapons pose a tangible threat to naval vessels,
especially American ships cruising close to the Iranian coast.

A few months ago, Iran unveiled a new cruise missile with a 200-kilometer
range that could be launched from ships or ground batteries. They also
announced development of the Valfajr (The Dawn) torpedo system that is
designed to carry a 220-kilo warhead capable of hitting large battleships.

"If Iran comes under a major attack, it will try to block the Strait of
Hormuz and cut off oil shipping routes," says Tal Inbar. "Blocking the
Persian Gulf will require the use of Iranian-made miniature submarines
(Ghadir mini-subs with a two to three man crew), different types of
torpedoes, and speedboats. This arsenal will be used to saturate the area
with dozens to hundreds of missiles that will disrupt movement, forcing the
Americans to engage the targets." It should be noted that last summer, Iran
fired supersonic surface-to-sea missiles at moving targets close to the
Strait of Hormuz during the Great Prophet 6 war games exercise.

The Iranian fleet currently has three Russian-made Kilo Class Type 877EKM
submarines, and according to Iranian sources, a half-ton Iranian sub
designed for reconnaissance in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. Iran
also developed Bavar 2 – a lightweight radar-evading seaplane armed with
machine guns and capable of carrying a bomb.

Mickey Segal notes that Iran's preferred tactic against naval vessels is to
swarm them. This tactic involves dozens of small, Iranian-made speedboats
armed with explosives, rockets, and light weapons dispatched to blow up
American aircraft carriers and destroyers.

Missiles and rockets

Iran’s strongest deterrent is of course, their offensive capabilities that
appear in the form of missiles and rockets. This arsenal directly threatens
any point in Israel and Europe—whether in the hands of Iranian proxies,
Hezbollah and Hamas, or by way of Iran's own long-range missiles.

Most experts agree that Iran has made impressive gains in rocketry in recent
years, and has even surpassed North Korea in certain areas of its missile
program, especially with respect to guidance systems and solid-fueled
engines. During the Great Prophet 6 exercise, Iran exposed their underground
missile silos and fired off a large number of surface-to-surface missiles at
various ranges. Iran’s pride and glory is the Shahab 3 missile that has a
1,300 km range. Iran also has the Qader (Mighty) cruise missile—an improved
version of the Shahab 3—that can reach a target at 1,800 km. A more
significant threat is the Sejil (Baked Clay) ballistic missile, which is
still in the development stage. This is a solid-fueled two-stage rocket with
a range of over 2,000 km. Iran has carried out several tests on the Sejil
during the last two years.

Iran is striving to attain missiles with ranges of thousands of kilometers
capable of threatening Europe. According to Tal Inbar and based on various
sources, North Korea may have transferred BM25 missiles to Iran, which are
believed to have a 3,500 km range. The BM25s employ the same technology as
Soviet R-27 submarine-launched, ballistic missiles. Iran has not yet
officially confirmed that it possesses these weapons, but an analysis of an
underground launch site indicates that the storage facility’s dimensions are
much larger than the missiles known to be in Iran's possession. Such
evidence suggests that Iran has indeed obtained the BM25s.

Iran is also making progress on its cruise missiles that are based on
technology acquired from the Ukraine a few years ago.

Once the Iranians produce nuclear warheads, they intend to arm their Shihabs
with them. They already have the ability to launch missiles and aircraft
armed with chemical and biological WMDs.

Some of the missile projects are developing under the guise of Iran's space
program, since the technology for launching a satellite or a ballistic
missile is essentially the same. Iran is also working on its own
surveillance satellites. Half a year ago, it launched a miniature Rasad
(Observation) satellite into space.

Though the orbiter is of no military value, Rasad is the second satellite
that Iran independently launched. The first, Umid (Hope), brought Iran into
the exclusive space club in February 2009.

A mysterious explosion at an Iranian missile-project site

In November 2011, an explosion rocked a major missile-testing site near
Tehran. It killed seventeen people, including General Hassan Tehrani
Moghaddam, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ missile
program. The base where the explosion occurred is a storage site for Shahab
missiles. To date, it is still unclear what effect the explosion will have
on the Iranian missile program.

Cyberwarfare

Iran's global terror network is the long arm of the Islamic Republic.
However, Iran is also relentlessly striving to attain sophisticated
defensive and offensive capabilities in the fifth fighting dimension,
cyberspace.

In 2011, it established a Cyber Defense Headquarters in the General Staff,
and a cyber-defense program was launched at Imam Hossein University in
Tehran. A number of cyber defense drills will be held in 2012; the goal
being to identify the Achilles’ heel in the state's operating systems. In
early 2012, Iran will hold its first national conference on cyber defense.

Israeli sources estimate that Iran's cyberwarfare capabilities are among the
most advanced in the world. The Iranians already know how to operate in
cyberspace and leave almost no fingerprints.

How will the Iranians respond in the event of an attack? Pundits, scholars,
and observers all agree: they will use every means at their disposal, in all
dimensions, and on all fronts.