Can Iran Successfully Deter A Military Attack?

Payvand ^ | September 11, 2008 | By Renad Ihab

[M Kehoe]

noob

Queue theme for "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:"

Call me a "noob" in front of a quarter million people!? I say notify your Seconds and heirs. It will be pistols at 40 paces. Sundown tomorrow in Tarpon Springs on Main St.

< /Theme music>

5.56mm

[Bob Ireland]

I have the following report from a generally reliable source:

United States Consul-General Jacob Walles has told an Arab newspaper that the Olmert-led Kadima government has agreed to commence negotiations based on the 1967 lines and a divided Jerusalem.

['negotiations' with the PLO, natch] Bebe Netanyahu seems to add credibility to this report. This could be a ploy by the current unpopular Israeli govt to try to appease Iran rather than carry out a pre-emptive strike - prior to the fall of the Olmert govt.

If true, this could prove serious - seriously flawed by Olmert and his band of Clintonista-type weasels.

[Thunder90]

This would bring the largest air and ground campaign the world has ever seen, and the largest by NATO. And it would result in the destruction of Iran.

[Tommyjo]

No. The Iranians bought the SA-15 Tor. The systems that the Georgians used against Russian forces recently. The SA-15s had some success before being overun/destroyed/captured.

It was the likes of Debka that gave Syria the Pantsyr air defense system. The Pantsyr is a short-range system. The Syrians took the gamble of not deploying SAM systems around the site. Deploying SAMs and defences around it would have highlighted its importance. Even if you look at the sat imagery of the site it doesn’t even have a layered security fence. The Syrians wanted to keep it as unassuming as possible and not draw attention to it. They took the gamble and lost.

[2CAVTrooper]

According to my sources, the SA-15 “Gauntlet” with the 9M330 missile has an engagement range up to 12 km with a minimum range varying between 100-2000 m depending upon version. Effective altitude is 10-6000 m. The system can track targets while on the move but has to stop in order to launch.

The Pantsyr fitted with the 57E6 (SA-22 GREYHOUND) missile has an engagement range of 18 to 20 km and an altitude of 10 km. This system has full fire on the move capability unlike the 2S6 Tunguska that it's replacing.

Iran also supposedly received 10 Pantsyr systems from Syria, and according to reports KBP has orders for 50 systems to an unlisted customer.

These two systems are relatively small thus making them highly mobile and easy to hide and don't always have to be in fixed locations to defend a given site.