Non-Subscriber Extract
Iran reveals combat-proven PGM family
- Article Tools
| 04 December 2002 |
By Robert Hewson, Editor, Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons Kish Island, Iran
Iran
has developed a range of powered and unpowered stand-off precision guided
munitions (PGMs) that is now firmly established in service with the Islamic
Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF). The weapons’ development was driven
by the urgent operational needs of the Iran-Iraq war, where they were rushed
into service, but since then the Iranian PGMs have been enhanced and refined.While the existence of this PGM capability has been known for some time, largely through glimpses of photographs published in Iran, this is the first time that any concrete details of the weapons have been revealed.
Iran’s
first generation of air-launched PGMs has been developed by the missile
manufacturing companies of the Iranian Ministry of Defence (and not the
well-established Aerospace Industries Organisation, builder of Iran’s surface-to-surface
guided weapons). The GBU-67/9A Qadr is an unpowered electro-optically guided
glide-bomb (EO GB), built around a 2,000-lb Mk 84-class bomb body. The AGM-379/20
Zoobin is a rocket-powered weapon that mates the same EO guidance package
as the Qadr with a 750-lb warhead, based on an M117 bomb body.Both the Qadr and the Zoobin have been designed around standard US-pattern general-purpose bomb shapes, from existing IRIAF stocks. Both weapons have also been given US-style ‘GBU’ and ‘AGM’ designations, although the designers say that these numbers have no greater significance beyond inventory management and parts stocks.
The
Qadr (pronounced kad-r, meaning ‘Force’) EO GB was designed for use against
high-value targets on land and at sea. The Zoobin (meaning ‘Arrow’) has
a solid-propellant rocket motor that gives it a low-altitude launch capability
not enjoyed by the Qadr. The Zoobin can be launched down to 300 ft or at
higher altitudes up to 30,000 ft.The two systems were in successful operational IRIAF service by the mid-point of the Iran-Iraq war (which lasted from 1980 to 1988), according to Iranian sources. Iranian F-4 Phantoms and F-5 Tigers were used to launch both weapons, and Iranian photographs show a load-out of two Qadrs being carried by one F-4E.
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| The
Qadr EO-guided glide bomb is based on a Mk 84 bomb body (Robert Hewson)
(2002) |
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| Four
AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on the outer wing pylon of an AH-64 Apache
helicopter (US Army) (1999) |
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| Both
the Qadr (seen here) and the Zoobin share the same daylight TV-based
seeker system (Robert Hewson) (2002) |