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Air Force of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution


Seal of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution.svg

The Aerospace Force of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (AFAGIR), known in the United States as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force (IRGC AF), is the air force within the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Islamic Revolutionary Guards). Parallel to the regular Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), the regular air branch of the Military of Iran, the Revolutionary Guards' have their own air force. It shares facilities with the IRIAF.

Most public sources disagree on which aircraft are operated by the AFAGIR.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in 2005 that "[t]he backbone of the IRGCAF consists of ten Su-25 Frogfoot attack aircraft (including seven flown from Iraq to Iran during the 1991 Gulf War, kept airworthy with the help of Georgian technicians) and around forty EMB-312 Tucanos". The Washington Institute also said that the IRGCAF maintained thirty Y-12 and Dassault Falcon 20 light transports, as well as MFI-17 Mushshak and Super Mushshak trainers and locally built Ababil and Mohajer reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The AFAGIR also operates a sizable rotary-wing force consisting of around twenty Mi-171 helicopters for transport and armed assault roles, and a large transport force out of Shiraz, equipped with around fifteen ex-Iraqi Il-76s (originally operated by the IRIAF) and twelve An-74TK-200 transports.Scramble backs up this picture in general, reporting An-74s, An-14s, and Su-25Ks at Tehran Mehrabad, Chengdu F-7Ms at Zahedan (while saying that MFI-17s were often reported at Zahedan incorrectly), and Il-76 AEW variants at Shiraz Shahid Dastghaib International Airport, while saying that they might be based at Mehrabad. Scramble also said that an unknown number of "new" Su-25s were delivered in 2003.


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