Some say Iran's weapons come from Russia

Some say Iran's weapons come from Russia
LEE KEATH
Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - Iran has unveiled with great fanfare a series of what it portrays as sophisticated, homegrown weapons - flying boats and missiles invisible to radar, torpedoes too fast to elude.
But experts said Tuesday it appears much of the technology came from Russia and questioned Iran's claims about the weapons' capabilities.
Still, the armaments, tested during war games by some 17,000 Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, send what may be Iran's real message: its increased ability to hit oil tankers if tension with America turns to outright confrontation.
To underline that message, the maneuvers - code-named "The Great Prophet" - have been held since Friday around the Strait of Hormuz, the 34-mile-wide entrance to the Gulf through which about two-fifths of the world's oil supplies pass.
Throughout the war games, Iran has touted what it calls technological leaps in its weapons production. In recent years, Iran revved up its arms programs after long relying on purchases abroad to keep up its aging arsenal, hampered by U.S. sanctions and Washington's pressure on other countries against selling weapons to Tehran.
The head of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, proclaimed Tuesday that Iran was now able to defend itself against "any extra-regional invasion."
It was a clear reference to Iranian worries of potential U.S. military action to stop its nuclear program, which Washington claims is intended to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it aims only to generate electricity, but has so far defied U.N. Security Council demands that it give up key parts of its program.
The new weapons, many of them shown on Iranian state TV during their tests, have come with impressive claims:
_ A missile, the Fajr-3, that is invisible to radar and able to strike several targets with multiple warheads.
_ A high-speed torpedo, the Hoot, able to move at some 223 mph, up to four times faster than a normal torpedo, and fired by ships cloaked to radar.
_ A surface-to-sea missile, the Kowsar, with remote-control and searching systems that cannot be scrambled.
_ A "super-modern flying boat," undetectable by radar and able to launch missiles with precise targeting while skimming low over the surface of the water at a top speed of 100 nautical mph.

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While it does appear that our erstwhile friends the Russkies have given other erstwhile friends some new toys none of these toys will be worth much after they are flaming piles of scrap. Remember Iraq was armed with Commie-Bloc weapons and we all know how well that turned out for Iraq.

The Russkies like to dabble in troubled waters, however remember the only real conflict fought by Russkies since WWII was in Afghanistan and they didn't fare so well there. Russia today is ever bit as ineffectual today as the USSR was in its day.