Harpoon 4 Naval Sitrep 37 Iran

Issue #37 October 2009
Natanz Air Defense Plan
The large number of air defense weapons and the importance
of the Natanz facility mandates a separate commander
for air defense. He is Pasdaran, since they control the nuclear
program, but he has to coordinate with the Iranian Air
Defense Forces (IADF), both the local SAM sites, all manned
by IADF personnel, and the sector operations center for the
Kashan area. Since there are no dedicated air search radars in
the Natanz facility, any warning of attack will have to come
through IADF channels or through the acquisition radars on
the local SAM systems.
Any IADF attack warning has to be routed from the
air defense radar making the detection to sector operations
center, to the air defense operations center in Tehran, to the
national-level Pasdaran staff, who notify the local Natanz
commander.
The defenses can be grouped into three categories:
• The light AAA complicates an attack at low altitude.
This is less of a problem than it used to be, because many
PGMs are best delivered from Medium or High altitude,
especially to maximize penetration. The defenses themselves
are less impressive than they could be, because only a fraction
of the guns are radar-guided, and there is nothing larger than
35mm.
• The older SAMs (I-Hawk, HQ-2) are not a big problem
for the attackers, given Israeli expertise in electronic warfare
and the vulnerability of the sites to ARMs, and because
they are static, to GPS-guided weapons.
• The newer Russian SAMs are the only real defense
against aircraft attack. They have two advantages:
First, as more modern systems, they will be harder for
attackers to jam or decoy.
Second, as mobile systems the attackers cannot be sure
of their position, and cannot use prebriefed GPS-guided munitions
to attack them. The need to find their position allows
the defenders a chance to gain warning time and perhaps
even an early kill.
Type 80/ZU-23-2 23mm at Natanz
Variable Setup Options for the Iranian Defender
The player has 70 points to spend on upgrades:
Improved chance of fighter intercept
Effective GPS jammers to reduce air ordnance accuracy (-20% modifier)
Type 902/Skyguard radars upgraded with Indian technology (GS 6)
(Iran tried to buy this, but India turned them down)
GS5 2-gun battery: .46 * 2 = 0.9
GS6 2-gun battery: .54 * 2 = 1.1
Skyguard sites expanded to 6-gun batteries
GS5 6-gun battery: .46 * 6 = 2.8
GS6 6-gun battery: .54 * 6 = 3.2
AHEAD Ammunition for 35mm guns (AA value x4)
Type 59/S-60 57mm AA battery w/FC radar
Type 59 57mm/71 6-gun battery w/Fire Can radar: GS4, 0.8
Standing combat air patrol of 2 F-4E over Natanz
30 points per +1 on GCI fighter table
40 points
10 points per battery
10 points per battery
30 points
20 points per battery
30 points
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