Iran Military Forum

Heres some of mine

It's a real pity we haven't seen any of the low-vis grey ones stationed out of Mashaad.

An Interesting thing I've noticed from studying Mashad Airbase where the Mirage F1s are based (using Google Earth) is that you never see more than 12 Mirages from 2004-2009 and while it isn't proof there are only a dozen or so operational, it is still fairly interesting..

Some pics using the Time Feature on Google Earth:

On the ACIG forum its members have pointed out something very interesting and possibly very troubling...

Tom Cooper has claimed that there have been air-to-air encounters between Navy fighters and IRIAF fighters (including the Mirage F1)..think Cold War photo-op like moments...Anyway during these encounters according to Mr. Cooper the Mirage F1s were never seen with any armament (such as A2A missiles) and indeed we have no photos of them carrying any weapons...Now while I respect Tom Cooper and his work his usual lack of proof has always bothered me a little...Regardless they do make a good point, that the missile the Iraqis would have brought with them for the Mirage F1 would be too old to use safely. It would likely be very easy for Iran to mount AIM-9s (or Fatters) to the Mirages considering several users of the Mirage F1s preferred them to French Magic missiles but without the Matra Super 530 (primary medium range missile for Mirage F1) the Iranian Mirages would be limited to WVR air combat...

I know that there were definitely talks in the '90's to buy newer generations of Magic's from France directly for that very reason. I think they fell through though. There was also something with China. But i'm having trouble remembering exactly what the deal was.

Like I said I bet they have adapted them to carry AIM-9/Fatter missiles which explain the launch railings...

As to Iran buying A2A missiles from China (slightly off topic)..they did buy some when they got the F-7s (which included PL-7 and PL-5s) but like I said before without the Super 530 the Mirages have no BVR capability...the Cyrano IV radar of the Mirages isn't considered a very modern radar today since it isn't a Pulse Doppler Radar and trying to wire larger missiles (like the Sejil or Iran's supposed new 100km A2A missile) wouldn't be very easy...which makes me wonder if the Mirages would be instead delegated to Strike missions (possibly modified to carry Iran's indigenous TLS-99 Targeting Pod)..but the problem I had with Tom Cooper's claims of them being seen over the Persian Gulf is that we have clear evidence they are based at Mashad so how are they being seen over the Gulf?

I was just reading that ACIG thread you were talking about more closely..

It would be interesting to get that paper they mention that was written by Iraq that detailed each and every plane flown from Iraq to Iran so we could see how many of each variants Iran has access to as well as what exactly were in those Il-76's that were full of spare parts and supplies. While these undoubtedly are all gone by now, given Iran's penchant for reverse-engineering, we could see specifically what specific French ECM pods they had access to. In fact, i can't remember the name of it right now, there's a section in "F-4 (or F-14) Units in Combat" that details how they totally scrambled the F-4's radars.

But what really surprises me is that we haven't seen ALL of the mirages stationed within range of the Gulf. While their existence over the gulf at all is puzzling because we've only ever seen them stationed in Mashhad, the fact that they've been optimized in the anti-shipping role would make me think they all would be in the Gulf while Mashhad would be F-5's or something.

The sources for seeing Mirages over the Gulf is credible enough that i really don't doubt it. What the mystery is though is where they're based. Ferrying from Mashhad is out of the question, but we've only ever seen them on the eastern border. But then again, how many F-14's can we count on Google Earth, like 5? There are 12 in Mashhad, with one being confirmed as lost, that leaves 12+ unaccounted for, i have no doubt some of those have been cannibalized, but it's not TOTALLY out of the question that there's a squadron unaccounted for.

You also mention their use against drug smugglers, this begs the question what type of weapons were being used against them. Is the reason they're not all over the Gulf because they have no other option but to convert them to CAS/COIN role because they can't carry anything else besides rockets and bombs.

In the AShM role, i'm thinking more about the C-701/Kowsar because i *heard* China originally derived it from the Exocet. Now, this might be wrong, but if it is correct, it would mean there should be some degree of interoperability.

I feel like i've asked you this before, but whats your background in this subject matter (just curious)?

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Iran---Air/Dassault-Mirage-F1BQ-1/1779721/&sid=38fc62bbb35e0b1f344bc355a301a6da

cool new emblem on side

Does anyone think we can discern a change in role due to the shift in paint patterns over the years?

When the majority spent their time in air-superiority (blue-gray) colors, they had enough spares to keep them as at least a somewhat-effective as interceptors, while now we see them in their "generic" paint scheme and they act mostly as advanced trainers with limited combat capability.

Or would one be reading to far into this and the state of the IRIAF's F-1's are, for better or for worse, a completely separate matter?

EDIT: Interesting, but i remembered that there is still the question of the "black"/EQ-5 which isn't these.

Ayyash,

For what I have seen, it was only recently that Iran actually repainted any of the Mirage F1s. I have only seen a single Mirage F1BQ that has been repainted, all others (including the new images I posted) seem to retain their original Iraqi paint schemes.

Now how well we can tell which variants they are from the paint schemes is a different matter. THose painted Gray/Dark Blue were the minority. The Gray painted Mirage F1EQ (not sure which sub-variant) in particular were specifically designed to carry and deploy Exocet AshMs.

However there is some debate on the ACIG forum as to whether these Gray F1s were painted this way in Iran or came that way from Iraq..I will update you guys when it all gets sorted out.