Military news

The Army's 33rd Artillery Group is based south-west of Tehran in a range of hills that host a number of other military units, including the Army's 23rd Commando Division to the south/south-east, and a sprawling industrial complex to the north-east associated with the Sepah Aerospace Force's missile development program. The artillery group itself shares its garrison with the NEZAJA's 99th Air Defense Group. The garrison is divided roughly in half by a large parade ground, with the 99th Group occupying the western portion, and the 33rd the eastern portion. Thanks to it proximity to the capital, Google Earth offers a range of imagery from 10/2003, 05/2010, 07/2010, 05/2011, 06/2011, 09/2011, 06/2012, 10/2012, 05/2013, much of high quality. Furthermore, Wikimapia includes a host of user annotations, detailing the identity of certain buildings. Although it is risky to trust entirely in the credibility of these annotations, they are invaluable in many cases. Secondary featur...

The Sepah's 61st 'Muharram' Artillery Group is based near the north-eastern city of Torbat Heydariyeh in the Razavi Khorasan province, and is commanded by Sarhang (Colonel) Bani-Hassan. Its garrison can be found just east of the Mashhad-Torbat Heydariyeh expressway, butted up against the southern face of the adjacent mountain range. Col. Bani-Hassan; note artillery branch service insignia (Taban Torbat) Google Earth offers imagery of the area from 12/2003, 09/2011, 03/2012, and 11/2012. Bing offers a slightly higher quality of the same 03/2012 imagery. The internal layout and characteristic features of this base are consistent with the limited number of other Sepah base's detailed thus-far (the 21st and 60th armored brigades). This includes the group headquarters (1), which can be identified by their placement near both the parade yard, and the main-entry / round about. The actual building style is nearly identical to that used by the 21st IAB in Neyshabur. The battalio...

Colonel Ali Koohi (Qaboos Nameh) The Sepah's 60th 'Ammar Yasir' armored brigade is based in the north-eastern city of Gonbad-e Kavus in the Golestan province, and is commanded by Sarhang (Colonel) Ali Koohi. The brigade's garrison is a miniscule 10 hectares, which – for comparison – is similar in size to a garrison one kilometer north, which belongs to a small detatchment from the Army's 30th Infantry Division. Despite this, it is relatively well mechanized for a force its size. Google Earth offers imagery from August 2010, July 2011 (poor-quality), January 2012, March 2012 and May 2013. Bing Maps supplements this with imagery from July 2011 (high quality).   The core of the brigade's fighting strength consists of a battalion of T-54/55 tanks, which includes both the 'clean' Type-69, and upgraded T-72Z/Safir-74 types. Around 40 of these are visible on GE's 08/2010 imagery. (1) In 01/2012, three of them can be clearly seen in the parade yard loaded on...

The Sepah's 21st Armored Brigade – nicknamed the 'Imam Reza Brigade' – is based in the northeastern city of Neyshabur in the Razavi Khorasan province. It is currently commanded by Brig. Gen. 2nd Class Mohsen Qajaryan. Gen. Qajaryan ( Google Earth offers imagery of the base from February 2004, October 2009, June 2011, February 2013 (partial coverage only), and July 2013. Bing supplements this with October 2010 imagery. Compared to the relatively cramped army garrisons, the 21st AB garrison is located on approximately 400 hectares next to the city's power-plant. A seperate housing complex along the eastern edge of the city may be affiliated with the brigade, but this possibility is unconfirmed. The existence of separate housing might help explain the shortage of on-base billeting, which includes facilities for at least two battalions. (1) Each battalion has three barracks (one per company), an office-building/HQ, and another ancillary building clustered together; both clu...