Air Force and the Strategy of Defense 

By Leila RezayatiMonfared

Islamic Republic of Iran annually celebrates the Air Force Day on 19^th of Bahman; the eleventh month of the Iranian Calendarwhich commemorates the faithful alliance of Iranian Air Force personnel to Imam Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran.

After the Islamic Revolution, Iran has earned great accomplishments on air force and military equipment, especially in terms of manufacturing military planes, jet fighters, radars and etc…. During the time when Iraq invaded Iran, while suffering from lack of spare parts, the Iranian Air Force was able to launch a surprising counterattack just days after Iraqi preemptive strikes on Iranian air fields. They also launched a major airlift using Boeing 747, 707, and C-130 aircraft to move conventional forces to the front. The Iranian Air Force, equipped with Maverick missiles, proved critical during the initial defense by attacking Iraqi ground forces. The Iranian Air Force operated aggressively at the beginning of the war, providing both close air support and battlefield interdiction in support of the Iranian ground forces. An example of this level of support occurred on October 3, 1981 when the Iranian planes hit a large Iraqi armor formation massing in central Khuzestan.

Iran also made effective use of attack helicopters. Helicopters were the primary Iranian anti-armor system. As the war progressed, Iran increasingly relied on army aviation to support ground operations, while the Air Force concentrated on strategic counter value targets.

When the Iran-Iraq War started in 1980, Iran's F-14s equipped with Phoenix missiles, capable of identifying and destroying six targets simultaneously from a range of 80 kilometers or more, inflicted heavy casualties on the Iraqi Air Force, which was forced to disperse its aircraft to Jordan and Oman. The capability of the F-14s and F-4s was enhanced by the earlier acquisition of a squadron of Boeing 707 tankers, thereby extending their combat radius to 2,500 kilometers with in-flight refueling. Iranian F-14 Tomcats were also used like miniature AWACS, reporting Iraqi fighter operations to Iranian air defense commanders with their powerful radars. In response, Iraqi Mirage F-1EQ fighters flew high-speed, low-altitude profiles, well below the Tomcat's radar limits.

Iran’s Air Force regularly holds massive military exercise to test various manufactured military equipment including jet fighters, long range missiles, long-range radars and electronic surveillance systems. During the regular war games, Iran’s drones, jetfighters, anti-air defense systems and some 8 thousand troops;this includes the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) practice modern tactics in relation to the recent threats existing in certain parts of the world. In September 2011, the Iranian Air Force's first squadron of home-made Saeqeh fighter jets started operations during the large offensive air drills codenamed "Fadaeeyan-e Harim-e Vellayat III" in Northwestern Iran. The country has repeatedly made it clear that its military might is merely based on the state's defense doctrine of deterrence and that it poses no threat to other countries.

As mentioned earlier, in recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems. Today Iran air force is well efficient and fully capable of defending any probable attack from outside. Iranian officials have also vowed a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.