December 5, 2007: Iran
says it has launched another mini-submarine, called Qadir. It's supposed to be
the first of the Yono class. The Iranian Navy did not provide much in the way
of details. From available information, this appears to be an Iranian version
of the Italian MG110 mini-subs. Some of these boats were sold to Pakistan years
ago. The Iranians and Pakistanis have been known to exchange information like
this (on foreign weapons) before.
The MG110s are 85 feet
long, displace 105 tons and have a crew of six. These boats are designed to
also carry eight combat scuba divers. These subs can carry two torpedoes or
mines externally. Top speed on the surface (using the diesel engine) is 16
kilometers an hour. The sub can stay at sea for about five days. It can stay
under water for up to eight hours at a time (on batteries). These subs are hard
to detect, but it remains to be seen if the Iranian boats are as reliable and
capable as the Italian ones they are modeled on. The Iranians love to talk up
new weapons they developed themselves, but when the stuff is actually put to
use, the performance tends to be dismal.
