Here is what they'll find in Iran
http://www.republic-news.org/archive/97-repub/97_kay.htm
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The Persian military industrial complex
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Iran's military industrial complex is almost self-sufficient and vertically integrated. Its explosives and chemical weapons are petroleum-derived and hence are an easy spin-off of its sprawling commercial petrochemical infrastructure. Metal fabricating and smelting have become major export industries and are fed by a domestic mining industry yielding 11 million tonnes of iron ore per year along with substantial amounts of copper, lead, zinc, manganese, chrome and coal. Iran's steel industry is by far the largest in the Middle East. Minerals are shipped from mine to smelter to foundry to factory to army base along a growing network of state-owned railways.
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Iran's main battle tank is the “Zulfiqar” developed by the “Construction Crusade,” an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. ...The Zulfiqar is a 40 tonne vehicle with a 1,000 hp diesel engine and a 120 mm smooth bore gun. For the Zulfigar/T-72 fleet, the Ammunition Group of the Iranian Defence Industries Organization mass produces both a standard High Explosive 23 kilogram tank shell firing a three kilogram warhead out the muzzle at 850 meters per second. They can hit targets 10 kilometres away.
The Ammunition Group also manufacture volumes of faster, lighter anti-armour warheads with a muzzle velocity of 910 meters per second—effective against every American military vehicle with the possible exception of the M1A1 Ambrams tank, to a range of 2 km. Iran also possesses several hundred older lighter 105 mm T-72Z tanks which are Soviet-built units given a substantial upgrade at the Shahid Kolah Dooz Industrial Complex's tank modernizing facility. Production of these is complete, however they are still in the process of placing explosive-reactive armour-packs onto the older units. This armour consists of bricks that explode outward when impacted by heavy ordnance.
In the late 1990s Iran began production of the “Tosan” line of rapid response tanks armed with heavy calibre machine guns and 90 mm guns. Iran's operational tank fleet numbers around 2,000 units. ...
One of the Persian militarist's prize achievements is the “Boraq” armoured personnel carrier which was conceived during the Iran-Iraq war but did not roll off the assembly lines of the Shahid Kolahdooz Complex until 1997. The Boraq is a thick-skinned, 13 tonne, fully amphibious tracked vehicle with seating for a crew of three and eight soldiers and carrying a fifty calibre machine gun on top. Other variants carry a 120 mm mortar or an anti-tank missile launcher. The Boraq is a marriage between the Russian BMP-1 hull and engine and the American (United Defense) M-113 wheel and track system. The Iranians still have over 300 BMP-1s in service while the US technology dates back to the days of the Shah. Fully loaded, the vehicle can travel 65 kph for 500 kilometres. While the Boraq is still in production and used in active service, the Iranians are also bringing two newer models of APC online, all advertised for export.
One of the Iranian military's greatest threats are its self-propelled howitzers. The Shahid Industrial Complex manufactures two models of self-propelled howitzer, a 36 tonne 155mm, and a 17.5 tonne 122 mm. All parts of these weapon systems are locally produced using Iranian steel including their 850 horsepower diesel engines and their 8 gear transmissions. The 155 mm “Thunder 2” self-propelled howitzer has inch-thick welded steel armour requiring a near direct hit to destroy it. The Thunder 2 can travel at 65 kph with a range of 450 km and can fire four, several-pound, rocket-assist high explosive projectiles per minute to a distance of 30 km. The Thunder 2 is a knock-off of the American (United Defense Industries) M109 of which 440 were sold to the Shah, many still operational.
The Thunder 2 has been in quantity production for several years. The self-propelled fleet is supplemented by a large number of towed howitzers, both 155 mm and 122 mm, manufactured by Hadid Armament Industries Group. These weapons are towed into battle by 6 x 6 ten tonne trucks which can also carry substantial amounts of ammunition.
The Iranian army can field three to four thousand artillery pieces; over one thousand of those are armoured and self propelled and can drive from the Iraqi border to within range of Baghdad in 90 minutes. During combat they emit heavy camouflaging smoke. The Americans have only a few hundred field artillery pieces, and in the crucial artillery-to-artillery cannonades, the vulnerability of open air, towed artillerymen to shrapnel fire makes the armoured self-propelled King. The Persians have fifty times what the Americans in Iraq have in terms of armoured self-propelled artillery.
Iran manufactures two dozen models of artillery rocket. These weapons carry no inertial guidance systems and are simply aimed with standard artillery arc and angle calculations and thus are not very accurate. They can hit large targets such as cities, military bases, and large concentrations of enemy force but not moving ships or specific buildings. They range in size from the 12 tube 105 mm launchers towed behind pick-up trucks that ripple-fire rockets with 6 kg warheads to a distance of 8 km, to the “Zelzal 2” which requires a 3 axle Mercedes truck to carry a single round.
Manufactured by Shahid Baghari Industries, the Zelzal 2 can launch a 600 kg high explosive bomb to a distance of 200 kilometres. About 90% of US forces and Western civilians in Iraq are within 200 km of Iranian territory. They could hit Camp Bushmaster near Najaf, Camp Anaconda north of Tikrit, or Baghdad's Green Zone with sustained volleys of high-speed 1,200 lb. bombs made of explosives several times more volatile than TNT. Centcom HQ in Qatar, British facilities near Basra, and numerous Saudi oil fields and fuel storage facilities are also within range of the Zelzal 2. The Zelzals have been in volume production for years and although offered for export, there are no known buyers. It's a cut-throat business.
A few years ago, attention was focused on the Shahab missile programme, with few caring about the Zelzals. Zelzal production was at a lower rate. Zelzals can't hit Israel or, at the time, any significant numbers of Western assets. Now Centcom has a quarter million uniformed personnel within 200 km of the Iranian frontier and an equal number of Western civil servants and mercenaries alongside them. ...
Persian military industries (Aerospace Industries Organization Tehran) also manufacturers a copy of the US TOW anti-tank missile which they call the “Toophan.” The fabled Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s consisted of Ollie North and friends delivering thousands of TOWs to Iran just in time to stop dead a dangerous Iraqi armoured advance into Iranian territory. Having learned first hand the effectiveness of the TOW, Iran now manufactures enough for its own purposes and sells the surplus on the international market. (They are also supplying Hezbollah with Toophans).
The Toophan 2 is a 1.5 metre, 19 kilogram tube-launched missile carrying a four kilogram explosive charge. It is connected to a joy stick by four kilometres of dental-floss-thin wire. It hits speeds of 310 metres a second and can punch through over two feet of solid steel. They have recently developed a laser-beam-riding version of the same missile. The same plant also manufactures a Soviet designed anti-tank missile.
