Pakistan and Iran’s military power is actually difficult to compare. In terms of nuclear weapons, Pakistan must be the strongest. Pakistan is the world’s recognized nuclear weapon possessor and the only nuclear power in the Islamic world. However, due to the lag of Pakistan's own economic development, its economic strength and industrial level are actually not as comprehensive as Iran, and its conventional military equipment is not as good as Iran.
Pakistan
Pakistan’s military strategy is to concentrate its main forces against India, deploying 80% of its forces on the eastern border and 20% of its forces on the western border. In terms of the operational guiding ideology, due to the lack of strategic depth and weaker strength, the emphasis is on "preemptive strike" and "quick resolution" to avoid prolonged wars of attrition.
is limited by its own lack of economic strength, and Pakistan’s weapons and equipment development is subject to relatively large restrictions. Not only does it not have enough funds to purchase cash equipment, but it also lacks funds for independent research and development. It can only improve its own equipment level by making breakthroughs in individual fields. . In the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, it adopts a tit-for-tat strategy against India and maintains the lowest reliable nuclear deterrent effect on India.
Pakistan’s armed forces are composed of regular, paramilitary, and reserve forces. The regular army is divided into three services: navy, land and air, with 587,000 troops on active duty.
Army
The main and most numbered service of Pakistan’s armed forces is the Army, which currently has approximately 520,000 troops (accounting for nearly 90% of the total number of armed forces). It is equipped with 2,500 main battle tanks, more than 1,200 armored vehicles, more than 4,000 artillery pieces, and more than 20 armed helicopters.
Navy
Pakistan Navy is the weakest of the three services, with 22,000 people. The main combat ships are frigates and submarines. Pakistan has 4 Chinese-made F-22P frigates, which are developed on the basis of China’s 053H3 guided missile frigates, with a standard platoon of 2,600 tons and a full platoon of 3,100 tons. They are equipped with C802 anti-ship missiles. It is the absolute main ship of the Pakistan Navy. In the future, 4 054AP frigates and 8 S20AIP submarines will be introduced from my country, which are developed on the basis of my country’s 054 frigate and 041 submarine respectively. By then, the quality of the Pakistan Navy’s equipment will be upgraded to a higher level, and it will become a more powerful one in the Indian Ocean. A fleet of strong combat capabilities.
Air Force
Pakistan Air Force has 45,000 people and is equipped with more than 1,100 combat aircraft. It is a well-trained and highly literate air force. It often beats India, which is known as a “remarkable and colorful country”. Pakistan has a total of more than 170 third-generation F-16s and Xiaolong aircraft, which are the main equipment of the Pakistan Air Force. There are also 8 advanced early warning aircraft imported from China and Sweden, forming a relatively complete system of combat forces.
Strategic Forces
Pakistan is the only country in the Islamic world that possesses nuclear weapons, and has excellent ballistic missile research and development capabilities. It has developed and equipped a number of ballistic missiles. At present, Pakistan’s longest-range ballistic missile is the Khataf 6, also known as Shaheen 2, with a maximum range of 2500 kilometers, which is enough to cover the entire territory of India and can carry nuclear warheads. The strategic nuclear deterrence capability cannot be underestimated.
The several Indian-Pakistani wars and military conflicts, as well as the experience of participating in anti-terrorism operations on the Afghanistan border for many years, have given the Pakistani army a wealth of combat experience and is a force that cannot be ignored in South Asia. Although limited by the lack of economic and technical strength, there is still sufficient deterrence in the field of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to ensure that opponents dare not act rashly.
Iran
Iran’s military power is the most special. There are two armies in a country, divided into the regular army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, and they are not under each other. They are very rare in the world. Since the Islamic Revolution in Iran overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979, in order to overcome the arms embargo, Iran has gradually developed its own military industry, capable of producing some less advanced weapons and equipment.
Iranian regular army
Iranian regular army is composed of army, navy, air force and air defense forces. The total force is about 305,000 people, including 250,000 army, and mainly equipped with 1,500 tanks, of which 250 T-72s are its most advanced main Battle tanks; 1,200 armored personnel carriers, 2,300 artillery pieces, of which about 300 self-propelled artillery pieces. The Army Aviation is equipped with more than 100 helicopters and transport aircraft of various types. zThe 1z
navy has 20,000 people and is mainly equipped with nearly 70 ships of various types, including 3 "Kilo" class submarines, 3 destroyers, 2 frigates, and nearly 70 maritime aircraft such as helicopters and transport aircraft.
The air force has 35,000 people and has more than 900 aircraft of various types, including more than 270 combat aircraft. The main models include F-14, MiG-29, Su-24, F-4, F-5, F-7, etc. Among them, the F-14 fighter is only equipped by the United States and Iran, but the United States has long been retired; the F-14 and MiG-29 are the only third-generation fighters in Iran.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has a total strength of 300,000 troops, including an army of about 262,000. It is mainly equipped with more than 500 tanks, more than 500 armored personnel carriers, and more than 1,000 artillery pieces.
The navy is 20,000 people, mainly equipped with more than 150 patrol boats of various types, 21 guided missile boats and coastal defense missiles.
The air force is 18,000 people, equipped with 110 aircraft of various types, and hundreds of Scud B and C missiles. In addition to the regular army and the Revolutionary Guard, Iran also has a large reserve force. Among them, the "Popular Mobilization Army" of the paramilitary force is about 200,000, mostly young volunteers, and can reach 1 million in wartime. Iran's paramilitary forces played a very important role in the Iran-Iraq War, and their suicide-style "crowd tactics" are still fascinating.
Iranian military industry
After the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian government has learned lessons and attaches great importance to national defense construction. After more than 30 years of hard work and obtaining relevant technologies from various channels, the overall military industry has made considerable progress.
Since Pahlavi was in power in the 1970s, Iran has used petrodollars to introduce advanced equipment and talents from Europe and the United States to establish a modern military industry and lay a solid foundation. During the Pahlavi period, Iran imported many advanced weapons including the F-14 from Western countries such as the United States, and later imported weapons from Russia and North Korea. Later, due to sanctions, it became more and more difficult to import weapons, and the parts of weapons were also very difficult. Iran had to independently develop its own military industry through imitation and other methods, and therefore mastered relatively advanced defense technology.
Iran’s military industry and many achievements, such as ballistic missiles, fighter jets, Sabalan and Zolfikar tanks, 155mm howitzers, "Moharam" six-unit rapid-fire guns, "Zor Jona" heavy tactical vehicles, etc. Weaponry.
ballistic missiles
Iran has the most powerful missile library in the Middle East, among which the most advanced is the Meteor series ballistic missiles. The latest model of Meteor 3 missile is 16 meters long, has a projectile diameter of 1.35 meters, a maximum launch weight of 16 tons, and a maximum range of 1,300. -1500 kilometers, able to cover the Middle East, is Iran's best use to counter the US military threat. The
lightning fighter
lightning fighter is Iran's improvement on the basis of the F-5 "Tiger" fighter. The shape is very similar to the F-5 "Tiger" fighter. The difference lies in the shape of the air inlet and the vertical tail. The air inlet of the Lightning fighter is rectangular, while the F-5 is oval. The biggest difference is the vertical tail. The F-5 has a single vertical tail, while the Lightning fighter has a double vertical tail similar to the F-18. The engine may be the RD-33 engine of the same model as the MiG-29, or it may be an imitation turbojet engine. The
F-5 "Tiger" fighter is a low-cost single-seat light fighter developed by the United States. It is 14.68 meters long, 4.06 meters high, has a wingspan of 8.13 meters, a maximum take-off weight of 11442 kg, a maximum flight speed of 1,740 kilometers per hour, and a combat radius. 600 kilometers. Before 1979, Iran imported 180 F-5 "Tiger" fighters from the United States.
Conqueror Stealth Fighter
Conqueror F313 is an Iranian-made stealth fighter. Iran claims that the Conqueror is a single-seat stealth fighter-bomber. It uses an advanced stealth design, a front canard aerodynamic layout, a V-shaped tail, Invisible tail spray design and other designs. However, the outside world generally doubted it, thinking that it was just a model machine.
Zolfikal main battle tank
Zolfikal tank is Iran’s second-generation domestic tank, with a total weight of 42 tons and a crew of 3 people. The main weapon is a 2A46M 125mm smoothbore gun, which is a model of T-72. The tank's autoloader. The power adopts a 1200 horsepower turbocharged diesel engine with a unit power of 28.5 horsepower/ton, the maximum speed of the tank can reach 70 km/h, and the maximum stroke is 550 km. Z1z
Jamalan destroyer
Jamalan is the first destroyer made in Iran, with a displacement of 1,420 tons. This tonnage is called a destroyer, which is a bit far-fetched. It has a maximum speed of 30 knots and is equipped with anti-ship missiles, ship-to-air missiles, torpedoes, and artillery. Waiting for weapons. The ship has a helicopter parking platform but no hangar. It is equipped with a US-made Bell 212 helicopter, which has only the most basic search and rescue capabilities, but no anti-submarine capabilities.
Iran is currently under severe sanctions by the United States and other Western countries. It can be described as a crack in the cracks. Under the situation of importing advanced weapons, it is actively developing its own military industry. At present, it has begun to take shape and can produce its own fighters, tanks, and tanks. A variety of weapons and equipment, including destroyers and missiles, may not be as advanced in performance, but they are more self-sufficient. In the field of nuclear weapons, it is definitely impossible for Iran to do so now. The United States and Israel will not send troops directly to Iran, but at least they will destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. In addition to its relatively strong self-sufficiency in nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, Pakistan is indeed far behind Iran in the production of other conventional weapons. The main reason is that Pakistan's international and domestic environment is also poor, and its resource self-sufficiency is insufficient, resulting in weak economic strength, which in turn affects the development of industry, and the need to focus resources on nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, resulting in a very inadequate research and development of other weapons.
Pakistan and Iran have similar armies and similar weapons and equipment. In the history of the Iran-Iraq War, Iran did not gain much advantage; Pakistan has also been at a disadvantage in the past India-Pakistan conflicts; the military strength of the two countries is estimated to be similar. Counting nuclear weapons, Pakistan’s military strength is definitely stronger than Iran.
