Saegheh
The Saegheh ("Lightning" or "Thunder" in Persian) (also spelled Saegre, Saeghe, Saeqeh, etc.) is any of at least eight completely separate Iranian weapons systems: a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) warhead, an anti-tank guided missile family, a surface-to-surface rocket, a target drone family, an air-to-air missile, a claimed stealth unmanned aerial vehicle, a fighter jet, and an anti-ship cruise missile.
History
[edit]The first system, the Saeghe 1, is an Iranian reverse-engineered clone of the American M47 Dragon wire-guided SACLOS ATGM, introduced in 2001.[1][2] It seems to have entered production in 2002.[3] Iran later introduced the Saeghe 2, a more advanced variant with a tandem-warhead to defeat explosive reactive armor,[4] and the Saeghe-4, with a thermobaric warhead.[5] The Saeghe-1 weights 6.1 kilograms (13 lb) and can penetrate armor up to 500 millimetres (20 in). The 7.4-kilogram (16 lb) Saeghe 2 missile has a tandem warhead and can penetrate up to 760 millimetres (30 in) of armor.[4] The Saeghe 1 and Saeghe 2 ATGMs have a range of 50 to 1,000 metres (160 to 3,280 ft).[4]
Despite being essentially obsolete, Saegheh anti-tank guided missiles have been exported to Syria, Hezbollah,[6] and Shia militias in Iraq. The Saeghe 1 and Saeghe 2 were in production and service as of 2011, though they were not widely deployed.[7] The Saeghe ATGM is extremely hard to aim and in Iranian service it appears to be limited to IRGC and rapid response forces.[8]
In 2006, Iran tested a completely unrelated short-range surface-to-surface missile[9] that is also named Saegheh. It has a range of 80 to 250 kilometres (50 to 155 mi).[9]
Other Saegheh name designations
[edit]Under the Saegheh name, Iran has also built a variant warhead for RPG-7 style rocket launchers. Iran also uses the Saeghe name for a target drone[10] (which comes in two variants: Saeghe 1 and Saeghe 2[11]) and an air-to-air missile.[12]
The semi-official Tasnim news agency of Iran reported in September 2016 that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, drone) named Saegheh similar to the US RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone had been built. It was said to be able to carry four precision-guided bombs; range was not stated. An RQ-170 had been captured by Iran in 2011.[13]
The Saegheh name is further reused for the HESA Saeqeh, a low production jet fighter, and for the Saeghe anti-ship cruise missile.[14]
Operators
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ People's Daily Online Iran Successfully Test-fires Anti-Armor Missile
- ^ Pavland News Iran test-fires anti-armor missile - July 31, 2001
- ^ "Middle East Newsline -". www.menewsline.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ a b c "10 نوع موشک ضدزره ایران از توفان تا دهلاویه + عکس". 14 July 2012.
- ^ "Иранские ПТУР Saeghe 2 и Saeghe 4 в Ираке". 28 December 2017.
- ^ "Common ATGMs in the Syrian Civil War". Medium. 17 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018.
- ^ Galen Wright, Iranian Military Capability 2011 - Ground Forces - March 15th 2011
- ^ Lyamin, Yuri (5 October 2012). "Легкое противотанковое вооружение Ирана. Часть 1" (in Russian).
- ^ "NTI: Country Overviews: Iran: Missile Chronology". www.nti.org. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
- ^ http://www.mindexcenter.ir/product/saeghe-2-aerial-target-system [bare URL]
- ^ "Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) / Saeqeh-80 / Azarakhsh-2". Global Security.
- ^ "Iran builds attack drone similar to captured US model, local media say". The Guardian. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
- ^ "Saeqeh / Ahoya / AHWA - HY-2 C201 Silkworm/Seersucker".
- ^ a b Ali Nuri Zadeh (1 August 2001) "Upon Regional and International Pressure, Iran Scales Down the Production of Ballistic Missiles and Focuses on Shorter Range and Better More Accurate Weapons; Iran Announced a Successful Test of Anti- Armor Saeqeh-1 Missile," Al-Sharq al-Awsat (London)
- ^ a b "Common ATGMs in the Syrian Civil War". Medium. 17 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018.
- ^ "Iraq: Turning a blind eye: The arming of the Popular Mobilization Units" (PDF). Amnesty International. 5 January 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
External links
[edit]- China View Video and info