Show me the Mahdi: October 2007 Archives

GERTZ:

MOSCOW — Iran has ordered Russian engines for its latest indigenous combat aircraft.

Russian industry sources said Iran has submitted an order for 50 engines from Chernyshev Moscow Machine Works. The sources said the engines would be installed on Iran's new indigenous Lightening fighter-jet.

"There will probably be an agreement signed during the visit of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," an industry source said.

On Oct. 16, Putin arrived in Teheran for a two-day visit and warned against any military strike on Iran. The Russian president attended a Caspian Sea energy summit and discussed defense and military cooperation with Iran.

The sources said Iran has ordered 50 RD-33 turbo-jet engines, produced by Chernyshev for the MiG-29SMT fighter-jet. The Moscow-based Kommersant business daily said the worth of the Iranian order was estimated at $150 million.

"The deal will help Teheran establish serial production of its domestically-manufactured jets," Kommersant said. "Russia in its turn hopes to gain access to an up-and-coming market."

In September, Iran announced serial production of Lightening, or Azarakhsh in Farsi. The Iranian Defense Ministry said the fighter-jet, developed by the state-owned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries, was modeled on the F/A-18 of the United States.

"We will soon be able to produce jets like Azarakhsh on an industrial scale to add them to the arsenal of the Iranian military," Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Najar said.

Kommersant said Iran's Lightening was a variant of the F-5E fighter-jet, procured in the 1970s. The newspaper said Teheran increased the length and weight of its F-5E, then reshaped the platform's tail fin and engine unit.

Under the project, Iran has replaced the original two U.S.-built J85-GE-21B engines with Russia's RD-33s. Lightening was also said to have received an Iranian radar based on Russia N-019ME Topaz system.

Iran won't negotiate over atomic rights: president

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will not negotiate with anyone about its right to nuclear technology, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday, hours before talks aimed at defusing an atomic row with the West were to start in Rome.

Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to build an atomic bomb, a charge Tehran denies, insisting it only wants to master atomic technology so it can make electricity and save its huge oil and gas reserves for export.

"We are in favor of talks but we will not negotiate with anyone about our right to nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Iranian state television during his trip to Armenia, which ended on Tuesday.

"The party which should set conditions is Iran not the other party," he was quoted as saying.

In comments carried by the Fars News Agency, the president also repeated Iran's position that it would not suspend uranium enrichment, the key demand of the U.N. Security Council.

How many ways can the guy say "BOOM" before it sinks in? He must (and rightfully) be wondering how the west ever achieved anything if we are this stupid.

We need to bear in mind that the expatriot, anti Saddam force in the west mislead us (for their own good reasons),

GERTZ - NICOSIA — Iran's military reported it had achieved a fleet of 1,000 speedboats as part of a swarm strategy to overcome U.S. naval superiority in the Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz.

Officials said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has procured the fleet over the last five years, with most of the speedboats delivered since 2005. They said the attack vessels have undergone a series of exercises to demonstrate the swarm strategy against the U.S. Navy fleet in the Gulf.

"IRGC is a major offensive and defensive force," outgoing IRGC commander Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi said. "We have advanced technology, and we have equipped our troops with the most advanced equipment that can defend our national interests."

In 2007, IRGC conducted two major naval exercises in the Gulf that tested the swarm doctrine. The doctrine stipulated the use of hundreds of speedboats to overcome U.S. aircraft carriers and destroyers in the shallow waters of the Gulf.

The IRGC Navy has also installed a network of anti-ship missile batteries along the Gulf coast. Safavi said the military could detect and target any enemy asset in the Gulf and Sea of Oman.

Now that one is a concern

"We have surface-to-sea missile systems that can cover the length and breadth of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman," Safavi said in an Aug. 15 interview to Persian television. "No boat or vessel can cross the Persian Gulf without being within the range of our coastal missiles."

Safavi, replaced on Sept. 1 by Mohammed Jafari, said IRGC has revised its strategy to prepare for a confrontation with the United States and other Western powers. He said IRGC, a force of 125,000, contained a reserve force of 12 million members of the Basij militia.

"We are sure of our defense capabilities but of course we think about peace security and calm of the region," Safavi said. "The strategy is a defensive strategy."

As for the swarm strategy ....the speedboats com from docks and ports, don't they? If not....it's called the AC-130, or for more close in satisfaction ...say hello to, well, you know...

Of course we all know what Bismarck had to say about war and politics.
Victor Davis Hanson has postulated that political reality is determined by the results on the battlefield however, and this time Hanson might be proved right. Let's hope so, because if not, there IS going to be a regional war. At least a regional war.

We see this last night from Ynet and Yahoo...

Report: Israel 'blinded' Syrian radar

After Israeli missile strike on Syria confirmed by both sides, the question remains – how did Israel's non-stealth jets infiltrate Syrian airspace undetected? US aerospace experts tell Aviation Week magazine that Israel used new US-developed technology that lets users invade and manipulate enemy communication networks
Ynet

After Syrian President Bashar Assad admitted that Israeli planes carried out a missile strike in Syria and after the media blackout on the incident was lifted in Israel, many unanswered questions still remain regarding how IAF jets managed to infiltrate Syrian security.

 

An article published this week on the aerospace magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology's website offers the theory of experts in the field on how the Israeli F15 and F16 jets – which are not stealth fighters – managed to evade detection by Syrian air defense radar.US aerospace industry and former US Air Force officials told Aviation Week's Senior Military Editor David A. Fulghum that Israel must have used "a technology like the US-developed 'Suter' airborne network attack system".

Huh? What is Suter? From DEFENSETECH:

But perhaps the most intriguing family of systems being "readied for operations" is BAE Systems' Suter network exploitation programs, designed to "break into enemy networks to hear communications, see what enemy sensors are seeing and, in some circumstances, become the systems manager with the ability to manipulate enemy sensors."

"Suter finds the doors that have to be opened," an Air Force official tells Aviation Week.

L-3 Communications' Network-Centric Collaborative Targeting tool is considered Suter's "eyes and ears." With the system, three planes can pick up, within seconds, "the location (within a few hundred feet) and identity of enemy emitters -- radios, low-power cell phones and satellite phones, as well as other devices used for command and control and detonation of explosives... Plans are to have UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] or manned aircraft nearby that can deliver weapons or guide ground teams to the emitter's location within minutes."

A series of Suter programs explored the ability to pipe data streams -- embedded with specialized algorithms -- into enemy communications networks without being detected. The portals into the network are found by precisely locating antennas (as aiming points for the data streams) whether they are part of an air defense system or a hand-held communications device linked to others in an ad hoc tactical network for a small insurgent team.

However, there's the possibility that [the new gear] could interfere with [existing] U.S. [military] technology. Baghdad, where the force buildup is expected, is electronically polluted. For example, one smart system that jammed improvised explosive devices locked onto another smart system because of a lack of coordination between electronic warfare systems operated by different services and agencies. Jammers also can conflict with surveillance and communication systems... The problem is so pervasive that antennas have been put on 110-ft.-high poles to get them out of the worst interference.

Ah yes, the Basij, the Pasdaran, or as we generally think of them the IRGC ..good news, eh?

From ROOZ:

Coinciding with the dissolution of Basij’s leadership into the Revolutionary Guards, one of supreme leader’s representatives in the Basij announced that the organization plans to “establish branches outside the country.” The Basij is a para-military organization based on volunteers.

Speaking to a group of Basiji activists in Mashhad, supreme leader’s representative Mehdi Abedi said, “Today, in response to requests by other countries, we are ready to establish Basij in their land in order to propagate the Basiji mentality and culture.”

Abedi added, “Today, the enemy’s main tactic for overthrowing the regime is to instigate a cultural invasion,

and so this is the most dangerous threat to the country.” Abedi continued, “Today, cultural invasion is extremely threatening to the country and most of the activities are undertaken by Americans and Wahabis,” a reference to the brand of Sunni Muslims in Saudi Arabia.

Abedi’s comments come a day after the newly appointed head of Revolutionary Guards, Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, announced that he would “personally” lead the Basij from now on. Citing direct orders from the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Jafari elaborated that the Basij will overtake “half of the Guards’ responsibilities.”

Here's a fact filled story ............

IRNA:

US-backed terrorists martyr clergyman

Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan Prov, Oct 3, IRNA

Iran-Terrorists-Assassination
US-backed terrorists martyred a clergyman in Khash, in this southeastern province Tuesday night.

The clergyman, Mehdi Tavakoli, was delivering sermons at a mosque when he was martyred by unknown terrorists.

The White House which has been defeated by the resolve of the Iranian nation, has put support for terrorists on its agenda in order to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation and kill innocent people.

Of course we also see that this guy is a believer in the 12th imam, the Mahdi form the well and a member of the Mahavadiat group PERHAPS previously imprisoned and reported dead in 2006.

Typical morass.