Monday, June 27, 2011

Great Prophet 6 Maneuvers (1) - Silo Missile Launch



From PressTV:

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has unveiled underground ballistic missile silos on the first day of the Great Prophet 6 military maneuver.

"The silos are a part of the swift reaction unit of the [IRGC] missile brigade; missiles are stored vertically, ready to be launched against pre-determined targets," Fars News Agency quoted the IRGC spokesman in charge of the drills, General Asghar Qelich-Khani, as saying on Monday.

Qelich-Khani said the country has been using domestically-built missile silos for fifteen years and added that the newer generation silos are operational from a launch control center located far from the launch pads.

The main advantage of missile silos is the reduced launch time as the weapons need not be moved or aligned prior to launch.

On Sunday, Commander of the Aerospace Division of the IRGC Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh short-, medium- and long-range missiles, namely Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Sejjil (Baked Clay), Fateh (Conqueror), Qiam (Rising), Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 missiles would be fired during the war games.

Hajizadeh stressed that Great Prophet 6 maneuver has completely defensive objectives and will be staged with the message of peace.

We tend to think of IRGC/ASF missile forces employed as a deterrent force affording potential second-strike capability against aggression by US and/or Israeli military forces. But there are other potential aggressors in the region such as the GCC or its elements. In addition, any aggressor (arguably other than the U.S.) will have its resources exceeded by such multiple means of deployment, providing a more expansive sense of deterrence.

Added to this is the technical advancement offered by silo development and construction, as well as providing another psychological deterrent against externally-applied prompting of Iran out of its self-imposed "Japan option" stance, that is to say going from nuclear weapon capable to a fully operational and deployed nuclear weapon.

And it provides greater leverage in any bargaining or posturing, among powers in the neighborhood.

One thing's for sure: it's unrealistic to assume these people are eventually going to back down or reverse themselves through externally applied coercion or intimidation tactics.

Video H/T: kiarash at IMF
YouTube rendering: redemptionway

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"One thing's for sure: it's unrealistic to assume these people are eventually going to back down or reverse themselves through externally applied coercion or intimidation tactics."

Mark jan,

Well said and a great post. Thank you. As I have always argued elsewhere Iran and the United States are natural allies. I have no doubt whatsoever that if the foreign policy of the United States vis-à-vis Iran was formulated by patriotic Americans for the benefit of their country and their compatriots and not by people of a certain ethnicity for the benefit of a small enclave in the Middle East, the two nations would have resolved all their outstanding issues long time ago.

But as things stand now, we have to wait until a majority of Americans wake up to the reality of what is being done to their country and her standing and image in the world and say enough is enough. I am personally of the opinion that the "tipping point" will arrive sooner rather than later and at a time least expected by those whose first loyalty is not to the United States.

Anonymous said...

I have great respect for Mark's sound analysis and good military knowledge. Most of us who live in the real world know full well that Iran is a bridge too far for any aggressor crazy enough to start something that they will regret.

The fact is that the current generation of senior military officers running both the Sepah and Artesh are veterans of the Jange Tahmili slug-fest in which short of nukes, Saddam used every type of weapon that the west would suppply him, including biological and chemical.So these battle tested veterans who cherish the sacrifces of the war (just look at the murals at all Iranian military facilities) are not the types to fold and go on vacation to Los Angeles or Florida.

The psyche of Iran's current military leaders and political leadership including Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, Mustafa Najjar, Jafferi, Soleimani et.al was molded under a baptism of fire on the western fronts of Iran and these battle-tested Iranian nationalists are beyond the simplistic and crude intimididation tactics of the US and Zionists.

As the utter failures of NATO in both Afghanistan and Libya have shown, air-power simply does not win wars. On the contrary, the cowardly random bombing of civilians only increases national resolve. Even Libyans who hardly have a robust military history are not buckling under wanton NATO civilian murder.

Iran's deterrent policies and second strike (perhaps third since a submarine naval component is also being developed)is designed to ensure a punishing retaliation to any potential aggressor.

Iran's dispersed silos and mobile missile units numbering in thousands spread out over a mega-landmass with mostly mountain topography will be impossible to counter. Actually, despite token American braggadicio for public consumption and AIPAC subservience, the US military knows fully well Iran's ability to defend itself. The Zionist pip-squeaks simply don't rate in Iran's defence calculas as the 4,400 sq kms of Zionist entity would simply disappear if it even imagined a military confrontation with Iran. Attacking Iran is a much different undertaking than killing defenceless Palestinians in Gaza.

As far as the US selling inflated junk weaponry to the Persian Gulf petro-pimpdoms, only one well aimed Zel-Zel would clear the neighbourhood as the slave Asian labour built glass cities on shifting sands would simply empty out.

Iran's investment in missiles is the most cost effective deterrent and great equalizer. A nation of 75million sitting atop the world's greatest fossil fuel reserves on the most sensitive geo-strategic fault lines in the new Asia centric world with a 3000 year old martial history is no push-over despite all delusional wishful thinking of its enemies.

mat said...

Iran is a superpower [ a new superpower in the whole region of the middle-east] as which had been stated and commented by the former Commander of the U.S. Central Command for the middle-east, Army Gen. John Philip Abizaid a few years ago. Later, another similar commentation had also been made by the famous former U.S. CIA's middle-east Specialist Agent, Robert Baer, in an interview on a tv talk show called ' hardtalk ', hosted by Stephen Sackur some times ago. And, recently, one more similar commentation came straight out indirectly through the mouth of the U.S. Navy, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, himself.

Note : Don't ever dare to mess with the mighty Islamic Republic of Iran !

Anonymous said...

Somehow the last paragraph of my earlier post (Anon 3.23.AM) did not appear. Here it is:

...And while waiting for the awakening of the American people, it is quite reassuring to know that the Iranian military is well prepared to frustrate any attempt by ill-wishers towards Iran and is capable to defend her to the best of their ability.

Anon 6.02 AM

I second wholeheartedly the sentiments expressed in your first paragraph regarding Mark.

It always pleases me to read objective contributions from him, be they here or on other websites. I particularly-before he was banned- liked and admired his Herculean task on the (anti)iranian.com of standing up to the sort of mindless Iranians who comment there by trying valiantly to inject some notions of fairness and common sense into the comment sections.