Iran's Navy Takes Delivery of an "Intelligence Destroyer"

 

After several years of teasing announcements, the Iranian Navy (Nedaja) has finally attributed its first picture released to the media of IRINS Zagros (H313), which it describes as an intelligence collection destroyer. The vessel has been pictured conducting sea trials off Bandar Abbas.

The ship was formally launched on January 15, in a ceremony overseen by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Iranian Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Nedaja Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, and Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Aziz Nasirzadeh.

For at least the last year IRINS Zagros has been fitting out alongside in the Bandar Abbas naval harbor. The design of the ship is clearly based on that of the Moudge Class frigate, the Nedaja’s lead frontline class. This is an Iranian development from the original Vosper Thorneycroft Alvand design, and now almost entirely fitted out with Iranian-produced sub-systems. 

However, it appears as if the ship may have been lengthened.  From a recognition perspective, the ship has three large radomes atop its superstructure, and two side funnels have replaced the single central funnel characteristic of the Moudge Class.

For a ship which the Nedaja has described as a signals intelligence collection destroyer, Zagros has the expected array of radomes and aerials.  It does not however appear to mount an Asr phased array radar, which normally equips Moudge Class frigates. This is a curious omission, as a direction finding capability is an essential part of the signals intelligence analytical process. Even more curious for a ship described as a destroyer, it has no gun on board. Nor does it have on-deck missiles containers, nor tube hatches behind which would be vertically launched anti-shipping or anti-aircraft missiles.

The lack of armament, save perhaps that which could be carried by an onboard helicopter, is compounded by the fact that the Zagros has not been allocated a pennant number in sequence with other Moudge Class frigates. Instead, it has been given a unique 3 series pennant number, not seen elsewhere in the Nedaja. This, and its lack of armament, suggests that the Nedaja may be classifying the Zagros as an unarmed auxiliary, for it to be able to achieve better port access overseas.  In this regard, the Nedaja may be following the practice of the Chinese PLA Navy, who attempt to classify their signals intelligence collection vessels such as the Yuan Wang 5 as research and survey vessels.  However, with the Nedaja self-describing the Zagros as a signals intelligence collection platform, this tactic is unlikely to prove efficacious, and host nations receiving diplomatic requests for extended port visits by the Zagros will be rightly suspicious.

The Zagros is likely to go through a period of extended sea trials before its first operational deployment, and it may yet be fitted out with a defensive armament suite. As currently under-equipped, it appears that the Zagros would need to sail as part of a naval task group if it were to venture into potentially hostile waters where there might be a limpet mine threat.