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Fool's Errand
By John
Iran draws up plans to bomb Israel:
TEHRAN, Iran - The deputy commander of Iran's air force said Wednesday that plans have been drawn up to bomb Israel if the Jewish state attacks Iran, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.The announcement came amid rising tensions in the region, with the United States calling for a new round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program and Israeli planes having recently overflown, and perhaps even attacked, Iranian ally Syria.
On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the international community should prepare for the possibility of war in the event that Iran obtains atomic weapons, although he later appeared to soften that statement.
"We have drawn up a plan to strike back at Israel with our bombers if this regime (Israel) makes a silly mistake," Gen. Mohammad Alavi was quoted as telling Fars in an interview.
They may as well draw up plans to turn camel dung into solid gold, as long as they're daydreaming. Oh I'd kill to see that raid. A bunch of archaic, poorly maintained fighter jets with no mid-air refueling capability have to transverse thousands of miles of airspace controlled by the United States or her allies, only to meet one of the world's most modern and accomplished Air Forces on its home turf and backed by a state-of-the-art radar and air defense artillery infrastructure.
Don't tease me Iran, just the thought of it has gotten me all hot and bothered.
Oh, and PS, because I know this will come up. Yah, I know Syrian airspace is "friendly." But, if Iran intends to exploit it, they can either travel through Turkey or northern Iraq (nawtgunnahappen), or plan on shipping their jets by boat (alsonawtgonnahappen).
Hotel Tango: The Tank
Update: Readers have pointed out that Iran does have air-to-air refuelers. Right-o, converted 707s, although I think what I meant to say is that they're no stinkin' good at it. And if you really want to nit-pick, the F-14 isn't really an archaic airframe either. But, whether it be refuelers or fighters or anything that involves the slightest degree of military discipline and technical proficiency... just because the Iranians have it doesn't mean they know what to do with it.
Update 2: Fun fact! If you break down our hits by country, the bulk comes from the United States, but at a surprising number two is Iran. Mostly they come to yell at me for calling their new fighter jet a piece of crap (which it is), so no doubt they'll have a cow over this post. Cool.
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Comments
Haha, Hahaha, BWWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
catches breath
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
BTW John, thanks for the tank link but really, the return of the tank.....where did it ever go????
According to Wikipedia, the IRIAF has (or had) 5 747-100F converted to serve as a VIP transport and tanker. Presumably they have both flying boom and probe-and-drogue capability. What figter/attack/bomber aircraft they have available to carry out these attacks may be more of a question.
I still wonder what makes them call their F-5z thingy "similar to an F-18". Other than the two tails that is. Maybe they stick a couple Etch-A-Sketches in the cockpit and pretend they're MFDs.
"Curses upon this infernal turbulence! I must once again call on Allah to guide me in redrawing my radar scope..."
How many of those F-14's can they really (a)get off the ground and (b)effectively fight with?
First off, I would doubt Iraq would diplomatically give Iran overflight permission. Not many Iraqi's are really all too fond of Iranians. I think it's related to some kind of war where they fought each other a while ago. Second, it wouldn't really matter anyway. I'd hate to hazard a guess, but I would have to imagine that at any given time we have quite a bit of planes flying over Iraq (aruably mostly doing CAS) plus lots of stuff on alert status in places like Al Asad or afloat in the Gulf. Iran could have all the Iraqi permission they want, but that wouldn't change the fact that we have a very robust presense in that airspace (not to mention quite a bit of ADA ourselves). We wouldn't have to deny anything, and after President ImInNeedofJihad threatened to attack US targets in Iraq last week, we could even say any such attacks were self defense.
In his last weeks Hitler would scream commands to move non-existent divisions, etc. I think we are seeing the same thing in Iran. Their leadership's grasp on reality is so slim that they constantly spout threats they cannot possibly carry out.
Q: What do you call and Iranian air refueler refueling an Iranian jet on its way to bomb Israel?
A: An easy kill
or
A: A beautiful fireball.
Like I said the first time, this effort by our Iranian friends is to be applauded. After all, it's pretty rare when we get practically new target drones to blow up these days. Budget cuts, you know.
Targets! That's right Will, hahaha.
Forgot that you were the one who went me the original link.
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Other than give Israel the heads-up, I'd say let the Iraqis allow them use of their airspace. I mean, does the U.S. really have the political and legal position to DENY the IRIAF the right to fly through Iraqi airspace if the Iraqi gov't acquiesces?
Not that it would matter a whole lot. As you said, the IAF will probably wax them in the skies over Syria.
As for tanker capability, I think the IRIAF does have it. I don't know how good it is, but I thought I read somewhere they have a few converted Boeings for tanker use.