Units and Order of Battle of the Iranian Military - Take Two

[Ayyash]

Original Thread is Here, but its almost completely all wrong.

Time for take two, hopefully not entirely wrong.

I am only intending for it to encompass the land forces of the Artesh and IRGC, the IRIAF, and to a lesser extend, the IRIN being already done.
This is not complete by a longshot, if i missed anything, or if you think i may have something wrong, speak up.

58th Commando Infantry Division
Based out of Dezful, the troops of this division wear the duck hunter camo similar to AUSCAM, and are immediately identifiable by it. Armour is not apparent beyond the simple steel helmet most often covered by a camouflaged cover and less often, netting. Support weaponry at the squad level is the MG-3 and RPG, with the exception of the ranger brigade using the PKM. The individual rifle is the AK-47, though very rarely a unit has been seen with a G3 bearing the distinctive qualities of this division.
The 58th is highly mechanized making extensive use of the BTR-60’s in Iranian service. The same holds true for, trucks, jeeps and motor cycles, the latter often deployed from helicopters. BMP-2’s may be deployed also, however it is unclear whether this is the case, or if the 58th was simply acting in close support of the 92nd Armoured Division.
We know that the 2nd brigade of this division has the following composition:
- 3 Infantry commando battalions
- 1 Air defence battalion
- 1 Artillery battalion
- 1 Instruction battalion
Another fact we know is that Iranian divisions tend to be ‘light’ in the sense that they’re usually smaller then their western equivalents. Given this, we can extrapolate this data to the rest of the division, and it is likely that the rest of division looks something like this:
- 9 Infantry commando battalions
- 3 Air defence battalion
- 3 Artillery battalion
- 3 Instruction battalion



28th and 64th Infantry Divisions
Based in the Kermanshah province and Tabriz respectively. Very little information is available at this time. The only possible hint came during Sacred Defence Week 2008, when a parade took place in the greater “Tabriz-Zanjan-Hamedan” area. This means that troops visible could have come from either the 28th or 64th, or even the local garrisons. However the troops that were the average soldiers in the Army, wearing woodland BDU’s, and carrying G3 rifles, and rode in jeeps with recoilless rifles, in other words no distinguishing features whatsoever.


30th Infantry Division
Based out of Gorgan. Like the 28th and 54th, not a lot of information on these troops are available, primarily because they’ve never been glimpsed in exercises. However, there are more definitive pictures of them on parade, albeit if only be a little. From what is available however, we can tell that they use the newer Safir’s rather then the older Jeeps. Artillery support is given by M-46 towed gun.




77th Infantry Division
Based near Mashhad, the 77th is your generic infantry within the army, wearing woodland fatigues and carrying G3 rifles, however they can be identified to an extend because they commonly wear orange neck scarves on parade. This division also has a number of M-47 tanks to act as support, the exact number is not known, but i estimate it to be around 20 or 30.




23rd Commando Division
Based out of Tehran, they are perhaps one of the most elite organizations in the Artesh, they are also one of the more elusive, and they are rarely ever seen except for on parade a few times per year. This division is almost entirely volunteers, with no conscripts ensuring a high degree of professionalism. They are identifiable by their top-notch equipment by Artesh standards, notably, desert dominant safariflage, body armour, Kevlar helmets, and newly manufactured G3 rifles. They do have a distinctive patch on the upper right arm, though unfortunately it is never visible enough to give proper identification, it is possible there is a parachute on the patch indicating that they are an airborne division, but at this point, due to the image quality, that is no more then a stab in the dark. Equipment wise, as mentioned above they are never without full body armor, as well as collapsible stock G3 rifles. As far as support weaponry goes it is most commonly RPG’s and PKM at the squad level. Use of motor bikes is the only proven vehicle use as of yet



55th Airborne Brigade:
The 55th airborne brigade is based out of Shiraz. Identifiable via the duck hunter camo, a black beret and two distinctive patches on the right upper arm, visible below. They are occasionally visible wearing body armour. They are armed with G3 rifles. They jump, most likely out of the C-130H’s seen in Shiraz.


65th Airborne Operations Brigade:
Another famous unit, they are visible due to their use of safariflage DPM pattern camouflage. They wear a tactical vest and a green beret. The patch of the 65th is a dagger and golden wing superimposed over a green parachute and is located on the left shoulder. As for weapons, the MPT-9S (collapsible stock MP5) is standard, replacing the older uzi. Assault rifles are extremely rare, occasionally using a folding stock AK-47. Support weaponry, specifically the PKM, is equally rare.



Zahedan Commando Brigade:
Easily confused with the 58th commando division, but a smaller brigade was seen on parade in Zahedan and during the 2006 Blow of Zolfaqar games, wearing the tan beret, and commando patch associated with the independent commando units. They also had used the AK-47 and duck-hunter camp in the same manner as the 58th commando division.

[Ayyash]

Continuing with armor....

Starting off, i'd like to make a point, that it might be possible to identify infantry support battalions within the armored divisions, during parade by looking for red berets and neck scarves, i'm not entirely sold on this theory yet, but its definitly a possibility

92nd Armour Division
The 92nd armour division is one of the shining features of the conventional Iranian arsenal. This is evident, if only by its stationing in Ahvaz, the crucial town along the southern border with Iraq. In comparison to the hodge-podge nature of Iranian armour elsewhere, the 92nd has fared relatively well, being at full divisional strength rather then the ‘light’ divisions found elsewhere.
The division itself frequently conducts war games and exercises indicating a high level of training within the division. Luckily for us that mean that there are also lots of good images to analyze.
The armour itself is composed of T-72 tanks painted in a stripe brown pattern. The T-72’s used are probably T-72S’s, rather then the lower quality T-72M1’s, but there is no way of confirming this as the Iranians have added ERA to both models. These tanks are supported by BMP-2’s painted in a similar manner as well as a very small number of BMP-1’s, though it is possible they have been completely phased out by now.. M60 tanks also appear to be deployed in this division, but when they are, they are deployed as second-line armour, usually only in the infantry support role rather then as armour. There are often static defensive positions along the border serving as fortified firing positions.
Speaking of infantry, there appears to be a very large infantry portion of this division, likely due to the fact that there is not a dedicated infantry division located immediately adjacent to them. They wear US-style woodland BDU's and M1 helmets, normally without covers, though sometimes with netting and more recently, painted in camouflage, often garishly like, though not quite rivalling, the paint on the Tosan, Zulfiqar, and Safir. Individual weaponry includes both the AK-47 and the G3, though by far the latter is most common and is regulated by unit. Squad support weaponry is most likely the PKM, though not much information is available on it, it is most likely deployed at a lesser rate then to the. Recoilless rifles and 107 mm rockets are deployed fairly frequently; often in conjunction with Jeeps. The infantry are occasionally supported with M113 and BTR APC’s, both with and without TOW’s. Overall quality of the equipment within the infantry support seems to be lower then of those within the dedicated infantry divisions, for instance, their rifles tend to be older models, their uniforms are second hand and they use older Jeep’s instead of the Safir.
Artillery support within the division is provided the M109, note, most likely not the Raad-2, also used are the towed M-46 130 mm artillery piece and Grad or Arash 122 mm rockets.
MANPAD’s such as the newer Misagh-2 and older Misagh-1 as well as zu-23-2’s, both towed and mounted on trucks, provide embedded anti-aircraft support, though there are dedicated air-defence battalions existing, utilizing, at minimum, the HAWK system.
These are divided into three brigades, but it is unclear how it is divided further.



81st Armour Division
Based out of Kermanshah. No further information available.

16th Armour Division
Based out of Qazvin, base is located north of the city, about 3-4 km. No further information is available.


88th Armour Division
The 88th armoured division, based out of Zahedan in the south-east of the country is definitely the runt of the litter when it comes to Iranian armour. As its stuck defending the sparsely inhabited Sistan-Baluchistan Province near Pakistan instead of the Iraq border or Tehran, it receives the worst of the equipment and participates in less training exercises per year. As such it is stuck with about and 50 M-48A5’s and an unspecified number of M-47M’s, It is likely the number is somewhere around 80 out of the remaining 100 M-47’s, with the remainder being stationed with the 77th Infantry division near Mashhad, though it is impossible to confirm the exact numbers.
This would mean that it would be an extremely light division, being only around 130 tanks total.
Extrapolating this further we only get, two half-strength tank battalions. This is extremely week for an entire division, but keep in mind that this units main enemy are poorly armed Sunni-rebels. The terrain also is extremely rugged, unsuitable for large armoured formations.
Infantry support within the division is much like that in the 92nd, generic army infantry with woodland camouflage uniforms and G3 rifles, MG-3’s and RPG’s.

Note that this picture is extremely old, it was taken in 1998 when Iran was preparing to invade Afghanistan.

[Ayyash]

Finishing up with the naval marines...

There are a total of around 2600 naval marines and associated special forces in the IRIN with the marines being organized into two brigades. At >2600 total, these would be extremely light brigades, even significantly lighter then the artesh units. We can probably assume that each brigade would be around 1,000 marines, with the remaining 600 being the special operations forces, most likely one-to-two battalions worth. Assignment of these brigades are is unclear, but they are most likely assigned to a specific naval district, specifically, the at Bandar-e Abbas, Bushehr, and Bandar-e Mahshahr, as well as more recently, at Jask.

Marines
Like most marine units of the world, these troops are optimized for amphibious warfare, immediately identifiable by there unique camouflage, a mix of blue, black and sage safariflage with chocolate chip pattern. As well as their red rank and branch insignia.
They are identifiable via the blue service patch on the left upper arm.
They armed with the G3 rifle and make frequent use of support arms such as mortars, short range rockets, RPG's, MANPADS, and recoilless rifles. The use the M1 steel helmet.
They make use of the IRIN’s stock of hovercraft for amphibious assault operations as well as smaller Zodiac and Boghammer style boats. They also use naval UH-1’s and SH-3’s for helicopter. While on land they make use of motorbikes and small jeeps.




Naval Commandos
This appears to be one of the true commando or special forces brigades within the armed services as they are tasked mainly with naval action, that is, infiltration of and capture of ships and critical facilities. They were one of the units tasked with combating pirates in the Gulf of Aden where they were based off of the Alborz and the Naghati.
In general ,they appear to be based out of Bandar-e Abbas at
They are identifiable via their unique arm patches mentioned above, red and black patches on the right upper arm. They are armed with the uzi submachine gun, as well as the MP5 and dress in the safariflage camo mentioned above, though recently during and after their Aden operations, they have been shown the digital ACU-style camo. They wear a green beret. The use small patrol boats like the Mig-S-1800/1900 series as well as boghammers.




Unidentified
These require only a short mention, there is only a single picture available of these troops so any assumptions made should be taken with a grain of salt.
The distinguishing feature is a light blue patch on the upper left arm, perhaps of an open book. They also wear black berets and carry the G3.

[Ayyash]

Bump

C'mon, someones gotta have something to add.

[Intrn'l_relations101]

Got something to ask; given your slight familiarity with the Iranian army, how do you assess its cumulative military - conventional and non-conventional - power?

[NightHawk]

Great Thread..!!

Now its clear why Zionist controlled Empire decided to Skip Military Option off the table and now its even more clear why Islamic Iran can test Nuclear Warhead Designs publicly without any external disturbance..!!

Actually so called international community has been always by the side of Strong Power by default... that is why today Zionist Train seems to have reached the end of the Railway Track ..!! NO more lies... no more child Killing... and no more Terrorism..!!
As for concern of Settlement buildings... Me thinks one Shahaab will clear the Land..off all those illegal brothels..!!

[Ayyash]

Originally Posted by Intrn'l_relations101

Got something to ask; given your slight familiarity with the Iranian army, how do you assess its cumulative military - conventional and non-conventional - power?

Well as for their conventional power, i think its a mixed bag. On the Eastern border with Afghanistan and Pakistan they're doing quite well i think. Theirs solid integration between the Police and the Army as well as the IRGC which keeps in check the primary threat, heavily armed criminals. While the proper army here has poor-quality equipment, it has good support by the IRGC forces in the area and is more then sufficient to handle the criminals or Pakistani frontier corps.

Then you have the rest of the Army, IRIAF and IRIN on the western side of the country, though qualitatively better then the forces on the eastern side, comparatively to the GCC forces they're far inferior. Really it depends in the way Iraq goes in the next couple years to assess whether or not this will be a big issue. The same holds true for the IRIAF and the IRIN, they're equipment is far to antiquated, and the good stuff they have is far to few.

That's of course the conventional military and i really think that's not where Iran's investing its effort and strength in.
Rather i think they're asymmetric 4GW type forces are extremely powerful, definitely one of the most powerful in the world, probably 2nd only to China.

[Intrn'l_relations101]

When you have a gigantic military like that of Iran, it is quite inappropriate to compare it with puny militaries on the level of HIGH EQUIPMENT PROPORTION.

What Iran is investing in, on the conventional level, is the Ballistic capabilities.

[NEWUSER]

Good thread, Ayyash. I added a link from the first one to this thread.

[Simple Bubba]

Originally Posted by Ayyash

Continuing with armor....

Starting off, i'd like to make a point, that it might be possible to identify infantry support battalions within the armored divisions, during parade by looking for red berets and neck scarves, i'm not entirely sold on this theory yet, but its definitly a possibility

92nd Armour Division
The 92nd armour division is one of the shining features of the conventional Iranian arsenal. This is evident, if only by its stationing in Ahvaz, the crucial town along the southern border with Iraq. In comparison to the hodge-podge nature of Iranian armour elsewhere, the 92nd has fared relatively well, being at full divisional strength rather then the ‘light’ divisions found elsewhere.
The division itself frequently conducts war games and exercises indicating a high level of training within the division. Luckily for us that mean that there are also lots of good images to analyze.
The armour itself is composed of T-72 tanks painted in a stripe brown pattern. The T-72’s used are probably T-72S’s, rather then the lower quality T-72M1’s, but there is no way of confirming this as the Iranians have added ERA to both models. These tanks are supported by BMP-2’s painted in a similar manner as well as a very small number of BMP-1’s, though it is possible they have been completely phased out by now.. M60 tanks also appear to be deployed in this division, but when they are, they are deployed as second-line armour, usually only in the infantry support role rather then as armour. There are often static defensive positions along the border serving as fortified firing positions.
Speaking of infantry, there appears to be a very large infantry portion of this division, likely due to the fact that there is not a dedicated infantry division located immediately adjacent to them. They wear US-style woodland BDU's and M1 helmets, normally without covers, though sometimes with netting and more recently, painted in camouflage, often garishly like, though not quite rivalling, the paint on the Tosan, Zulfiqar, and Safir. Individual weaponry includes both the AK-47 and the G3, though by far the latter is most common and is regulated by unit. Squad support weaponry is most likely the PKM, though not much information is available on it, it is most likely deployed at a lesser rate then to the. Recoilless rifles and 107 mm rockets are deployed fairly frequently; often in conjunction with Jeeps. The infantry are occasionally supported with M113 and BTR APC’s, both with and without TOW’s. Overall quality of the equipment within the infantry support seems to be lower then of those within the dedicated infantry divisions, for instance, their rifles tend to be older models, their uniforms are second hand and they use older Jeep’s instead of the Safir.
Artillery support within the division is provided the M109, note, most likely not the Raad-2, also used are the towed M-46 130 mm artillery piece and Grad or Arash 122 mm rockets.
MANPAD’s such as the newer Misagh-2 and older Misagh-1 as well as zu-23-2’s, both towed and mounted on trucks, provide embedded anti-aircraft support, though there are dedicated air-defence battalions existing, utilizing, at minimum, the HAWK system.
These are divided into three brigades, but it is unclear how it is divided further.



81st Armour Division
Based out of Kermanshah. No further information available.

16th Armour Division
Based out of Qazvin, base is located north of the city, about 3-4 km. No further information is available.


88th Armour Division
The 88th armoured division, based out of Zahedan in the south-east of the country is definitely the runt of the litter when it comes to Iranian armour. As its stuck defending the sparsely inhabited Sistan-Baluchistan Province near Pakistan instead of the Iraq border or Tehran, it receives the worst of the equipment and participates in less training exercises per year. As such it is stuck with about and 50 M-48A5’s and an unspecified number of M-47M’s, It is likely the number is somewhere around 80 out of the remaining 100 M-47’s, with the remainder being stationed with the 77th Infantry division near Mashhad, though it is impossible to confirm the exact numbers.
This would mean that it would be an extremely light division, being only around 130 tanks total.
Extrapolating this further we only get, two half-strength tank battalions. This is extremely week for an entire division, but keep in mind that this units main enemy are poorly armed Sunni-rebels. The terrain also is extremely rugged, unsuitable for large armoured formations.
Infantry support within the division is much like that in the 92nd, generic army infantry with woodland camouflage uniforms and G3 rifles, MG-3’s and RPG’s.

Note that this picture is extremely old, it was taken in 1998 when Iran was preparing to invade Afghanistan.

Based on NLA images and data of their captured equipment. Iran's Chieftans are associated with the 16th Armored Division (AR DIV). Since most assessments out there have AR DIV try to keep similar equipment in their brigades... my guess is that the 16th still has all of Iran's Chieftan tanks. Additionally, Scorpions, M113 and M557 were captured. Recce units have scorpions and Mechanized Infantry have M113 and C2 using M577.

Likewise the 92d AR DIV has the T-72"S" tanks... and 88th AR DIV has the M-47 and M-48. That probally leaves the 81st AR DIV with M-60. the terrain in the 81st area of operations is suited for the shorter range M-60s.

http://www.iran-e-azad.org/english/nla/fortystars.html

link to NLA images and article on captured equip... yes its a old article.

great picture of the M-47 and then M-48s from the 88th AR DIV...

just my two bits...

[Ayyash]

Thanks for that information, i'm surprised i never saw it before.

It would make sense since the Chieftain and now the Mobarez, are the heaviest tanks in Iran's arsenal and would make sense to place them close to the capital, especially with their engine being particularly vulnerable to the desert.

Your assumption on the 81st is also logical, though, as with the 16th, we've never seen them recently in training exercises so we can't be sure.

I just got a bunch of pictures from Fars, and from some other sources from each specific province, so i should be making some more updates to this thread soon, specifically with IRGC hypothesis.

[jordan8445]

I thought the T-72S was Irans most capable tank... Great thread by the way, will an eye on it.

[Ayyash]

Originally Posted by jordan8445

I thought the T-72S was Irans most capable tank... Great thread by the way, will an eye on it.

It is, or it might not be, depending entirely on what upgrades the Mobarez program actualy has.

[Ayyash]

I've started using google earth to expand the ORBAT

In Isfahan there is both an Artesh mechanized infantry unit as well as an IRGC armored unit.

There is a complex south of the city that contains a massive artillery mustering yard with at least 4 battalions of what i think are M-46 towed guns. These could belong to either services.

Another 2 small battalions of towed M-101 guns and 1 small SP M110 guns can be confirmed as belonging to the Artesh.

This would seem to be a divisional sized Artesh element at first glance, though i'm can't be sure since i've heard no reference of it.

[Nojeh]

Great information and pictures, Ayyash.

Can you describe typical TO&E (squad-platoon-company details with numbers and types of men and equipment) for Artesh infantry, mechanized, armor battalions?

Are battalions organized similar to US Army units or have they been restructured since the 1980s?