At the end of November, Iran
announced a new class of warships, the Sina-7 class frigates. All that was
shown was pictures of the completed hull and superstructure. The ship had yet
to be fitted out with weapons, electronics, or most other equipment. That is
supposed to take place over the next year or two. But the Iranians couldn’t
wait to announce what a great ship this would be. These announcements are seen
as useful to cheer the population up.
The Sina-7 appeared to be a 2,000-2,500 ton vessel armed
with one 76mm gun, missiles, and a helicopter. Basically its an improvement
over the earlier Jamaran class corvettes. Two of these have been put into
service so far. Until the Sina-7 came along the Jamaran class was the largest
locally built surface warship in Iran.
One of the Jarmarans was assigned to the Caspian Sea, the
other to the Indian Ocean. The Jarmarans were described
as “destroyers” when first announced (as under construction) five years ago. In
fact, it's a 1,400 ton corvette. The new ship has a crew of 140 and is equipped
with anti-aircraft, (one 40mm and two 20mm cannon, four small missiles)
anti-submarine (six torpedoes), and anti-ship (four C-802 missiles) weapons. At
the moment, the Jarmaran seems to be filled mostly with hope and press
releases. The navy made a point that the Sini-7s were better built than the
Jarmarans.
The Iranian navy could certainly use some new warships.
Currently, the only major surface warships it has are three elderly British
built frigates (1,540 tons each) and two U.S.
built corvettes (1,100 tons each). There are about fifty smaller patrol craft,
ten of them armed with Chinese anti-ship missiles. There are another few dozen
mine warfare, amphibious, and support ships. The three most powerful ships in
the fleet are three Russian Kilo class subs. There are about fifty mini-subs, most
of them built in Iran.
All that's been heard of from Iran's
naval shipbuilding facility at the Bushehr shipyard are reports of labor
problems. There have been strikes and lockouts as well as complaints of poor
designs and sloppy management. Iran
has, for the last two decades, announced many new, locally made, weapons that
turned out to be more spin than substance.
Iran
does have commercial shipbuilding firms that produce merchant ships that are
larger than destroyers. Thus it was believed that Iran
could build something that looks like a destroyer. The Jamaran class ships have
Chinese C802 anti-ship missiles, but a lot of the other necessary military
electronics are harder to get and install in a seagoing ship. Iran
has coped by using commercial equipment. This does not make for a formidable
warship but does enable high seas operations.
Iran
is trying to expand its growing (slowly) naval power on all its coasts (Caspian
Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian
Ocean). Thus, for the last four years, Iran
has had one or more of its few surface warships working with the international
anti-piracy patrol off Somalia.
This was the first time since the 1970s that the Iranian Navy has conducted
sustained operations outside its coastal waters. Despite their own Islamic
radical government, the Iranian sailors have got along with the other members
of the patrol, including the United States
(which is officially the "Great Satan" back home).
Encouraged by this, Iran
announced that it would send more of its warships off to distant areas, mainly
to show the world that Iran
was a naval power capable of such reach.
Technically, the Iranians can pull this off but just barely.
And this is mainly because, in the last decade, Iran
has been building some larger warships. Not really large but big enough to take
trips across the Indian Ocean. Two years ago, for
example, the Iranian Navy sent its first domestically built destroyer, the
Jamaran, to sea. In two years it hopes to do the same with the larger Sina-7s.
But both these vessels are hastily built by yards with no experience in
building surface warships. That means a lot of mistakes will be made. Moreover,
the Iranians cannot get modern weapons and are equipping these ships with
whatever they can scrounge up.
