Under the Shah, Imperial Iran was well on the way to having one of the most powerful militaries in the world (click here for Wikipedia source). By 1985, it would have had a military almost a quarter the size of the United States in most areas, armed with tens of billions of dollars worth of imported military equipment. The Imperial Iranian Army would have 2000 Challenger 1 main battle tanks, supported by hundreds of older M60 Patton and Chieftain tanks, as well as hundreds of M551 Sheridan, FV101 Scorpion, and BMP-1 light tanks. Thousands of M113 and BTR-40, BTR-50, and BTR-60 vehicles would be in service as APCs and IFVs. The Imperial Iranian Air Force would have the following aircraft, as well as tens of thousands of bombs and missiles to arm them, including thousands of laser guided munitions: 150 F-14 Tomcat interceptors 90 F-15 Eagle fighters 250 F/A-18 Hornet multirole aircraft 240 F-4 Phantom fighter/bombers 300 F-16 Falcon multirole aircraft 181 F-5E/F Tiger II fighters 70 A-10 Warthog attack aircraft 10 E-3 Sentry early warning and control aircraft 12 KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft 12 P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Super Cobra attack helicopters UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters The Imperial Iranian Navy would also be very well equipped: 3 light aircraft carriers -- 3 Invincible class 11 cruisers -- 2 Ticonderoga class -- 9 Belknap class 21 destroyers -- 4 Kidd class -- 6 Spruance class -- 6 Type 42 class -- 2 Gearing class -- 2 Allen M. Sumner class -- 1 Battle class 22 frigates -- 8 Kortenaer class -- 10 Knox class -- 4 Alvand class 14 corvettes -- 8 Bayandor class -- 6 Grisha class 15 submarines -- 6 Type 209 class -- 6 Type 206 class -- 3 Tang class 4 amphibious assault ships -- 2 Tarawa class -- 2 Iwo Jima class 28 fast attack craft -- 12 La Combattante IIa class -- 16 Osa class In addition to this, Iran would have an extensive network of Patriot air defense missiles, P-15 Termit and Exocet anti-ship missiles, and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Hope you do not mind, have coppied this thread to my forum, like it, did post a link to your forum in the thread i made.
Sorry should have PM you first but did put a link on the bottum of the thread as i always do with threads i find at other places.