AFM correspondent Holger Müller was at the Iranian Armed Forces’ Aerial Achievements Expo in Tehran earlier this year for a rare glimpse of assets from five of the country’s air arms
Iranian Armed Forces
Though there are by now plenty of Iranian aircraft photos available online, there are still only a few opportunities for foreigners to see these machines at close quarters. One of them is the biennial Iran International Airshow at Kish (see Tehran’s show of force, February, p66-69), though the variety of aircraft types shown there is usually limited to a handful. So it was a welcome surprise that on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian Armed Forces’ Aerial Achievements Expo was held at the 1st Tactical Air Base (TAB.1) at Tehran-Mehrabad. It brought together the majority of fixedwing and helicopter types currently in use with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), Navy (IRIN), Army Aviation (IRIAA), Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force (IRGCAF) and Police Aviation (IRIPA).
