1744

WORLD AIR FORCES

FLIGHT International,

Shrike Commanders for liaison, and two

F.27 Mk 400Ms and two Mk 600 Friendships for transport duties.
Imperial Iranian Army Almost overnight one of the largest users of rotorcraft in the world, the Army has in its
inventory most of the AH-Us and Bell
214As mentioned above. It also has a
fixed-wing section operating about 40
Cessna 185s, ten Cessna 0-2s, six Cessna
310s, and will receive shortly two F.27
Friendships, one Mk 400M and one Mk
600, for transport and target-towing
duties.

were supplied to the IIAF plus 22

F-5Bs; the first of a batch of two-seat
F-5F combat trainers is due to be
delivered to Iran this summer.
For maritime reconnaissance duties,
six P-3F Orions are being delivered and,
although an eventual requirement exists
for a total of 18 aircraft, no further
orders have been announced. To support the F-4/F-5/F-14 force, 12 Boeing
707-320C t a n k e r / t r a n s p o r t s are in service and three of an order for nine exTWA Boeing 747s are being fitted with
air-refuelling equipment. At least four
747s have been delivered of which one
crashed recently in Spain; deliveries
are scheduled for completion by the end
of the year. The tactical transport
element has 15 C-130E and 42 C-130H
Hercules, and 14 F.27 Mk 400M Troopships including two for aerial survey
and four F.27 Mk 600s, three of the
latter for VIP use.
A helicopter element, larger than
many of the world's air arms will soon
have some 700 machines, although not
all will be in service, and many will be
flown by the Iranian Army. The most
recent order announced was one worth
$21-7 million for 39 Bell 214C utility
helicopters for SAR duties with the air
force; deliveries are to begin in November, ending in February 1978. In service
are ten HH-43F Huskies, 16 Super
Frelons, 45 AB.205s, five AB.212s and 70
AB.206s. Currently being
delivered,
mainly for the Army, are 202 Bell
AH-Us (some equipped with Tow missiles) and 287 Bell 214As with an order
completion date of 1977-78. Twenty
Italian Meridionali-built CH-47C Chinooks are being delivered with a further
22 on order from Boeing. Three Aero
Commander 690s and four Falcon 20s
are used for liaison work together with
seven DHC Beavers. A total of 49 Beech
Bonanzas are in service or on order for
training duties comprising 39 F.33Cs
and ten F.33As.

IRAQ
Iraqi Air Force Over the past few
years, Iraq has received considerable
supplies of arms from the Soviet
Union and Iraqi bases are regularly
used by the Russian air force. However,
talks were held last year between Iraq
and France which are reported to have
included provisional agreement for the
supply of several squadrons of Mirage
F.ls; no order has yet been officially
announced. Most modern type in the
IAF's inventory is the MiG-23 Flogger,
of which two strike squadrons are
equipped with a total of 40 aircraft.
Other types in service include more
than 50 Hunter FGA.9/FR.10s in three
strike squadrons, 30-plus MiG-17s in
three fighter-bomber units, nine Tu-16s
in a bomber squadron and a further
unit with ten Il-28s. Three strike squadrons fly 50 Su-7Bs, and an intercepter
element consists of five squadrons with
90 MiC-21s and 20 MiG-19s. For shortrange Coin missions there are 20 Jet
Provost T.52s. A mixed helicopter and
transport force has nine Wessex 52s,
four Mi-Is, 35 Mi-4s, 30 Mi-8s, 40 Alouette
Ills and a few Mi-6s, while two Herons
fly with 12 An-2s, six An-12s, ten An-24s.
13 I1-14S and two Tu-124s for VIP use.
Trainers include Yak-lls, MiG-15UTIs,
L-29s, MiG-21UTIs and Hunter T.69s.
The improved L-39 is on order for training and ground-attack work. Two B-N
Islanders are in service for light transport duties.

Imperial Iranian Navy Like the other

two services, the Navy air arm has been
steadily expanding and now operates
ten Agusta SH-3D Sea Kings for ASW
work plus another batch on order,
believed to total ten machines. Six
RH-53Ds are reported to be on order.
Other types in service include five
AB.205s, 14 AB.206s, six AB.212s, six

IRELAND (EIRE)
Irish Army Air Corps Due to the increased pressure of border operations
and the relatively old equipment flown
by the IAAC, a re-equipment programme has been under way for some
time. To replace the two remaining airworthy Vampire T.55s, six Super Magisters armed with 7-62mm machine guns

Six Super Magisters are now in use with the Irish Army Air Corps

26 lane

1976

and underwing rocket launchers have

been delivered, the first two arriving
last September. The IAAC has its
headquarters at Casement Aerodrome,
Baldonnel, and is mainly employed in
SAR, ambulance missions, border surveillance and reconnaissance, survey
work and limited navaid checking. Two
Doves are still flying, one equipped with
survey cameras. Eight C h i p m u n k
trainers are to be replaced by ten SiaiMarchetti SF.260Ws, delivery of which
is due to begin in September this year.
In addition to basic training they will
also function as light strike aircraft
carrying two machine guns and 68mm
rockets.
The helicopter element consists of
eight Alouette His of the Helicopter
Rescue Service and serious consideration is currently being given to the
suggestion that a larger troop-carrying
type be bought of similar size to the
Puma. Eight Cessna FR.172Hs with provision for underwing stores fly border
patrol duties and four Provosts still
flying are expected to be retired when
the SF.260s arrive.
ISRAEL
Israel Defence Force/ Air Force Israel
continues to spend a large percentage
of her gross national product on arms,
so much so that for 1976-77 almost 35
per cent of her GNP has been allocated
for arms purchases. Not all of this
money totalling some $4,400 million
will be spent abroad, as production of
the IAI Kfir and Arava testifies, but her
relationship with America continue;"
with a steady flow of supplies and new
equipment orders. To update her interceptor force, Israel has ordered F-15
Eagles with deliveries scheduled to
begin at the end of this year. A total
of 25 aircraft are believed to comprise
the initial order with more later. Four
Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes worth $170
million have also been ordered for electronic surveillance with deliveries due
to begin in December 1977.
The IDF/AF Phantom force totals 204
F 4 E s and six RF-4Es in some six strike
squadrons, with a further six RF-4Es
due for delivery at the end of this year.
More than 250 A-4E/H/M/N Skyhawks
plus some 24 two-seat TA-4Hs operate
in the ground-attack role equipping
some six squadrons. Of the 72 Mirage
IIICJs and three two-seat IIIBJs originally delivered by France, perhaps as
many as 50 aircraft survive in three
intercepter squadrons, but this number
is being swelled by the IAI Kfir multirole derivative of the Mirage powered
by a J79 engine. Designed and built
following France's embargo on the sale
of Mirage 5s to Israel, the Kfir was officially revealed last year and machines
in squadron service have been photographed recently. The IAF is believed
to have an initial requirement for more
than 100 Kfirs and perhaps one-third
of
this
number
are
understood
to have been delivered. Interim-standard
aircraft known as Neshers fought in the
1973 war but, contrary to reports, early
problems with the Kfir's J79 engine installation prevented the type from
entering service in time for the conflict.
Other types flying in a second-line role
include
fewer
than
ten
Vautour
bombers, six Super Mystere B.2s, 25
Mystere lVAs and 25 Ouragans, the
latter two types flying in a combat training role or in storage. The export of
some of these older IAF aircraft to
South American air forces remains unconfirmed. Approximately 80 IAI-built

>
1

i.