In this episode, Miles and Yousef Riazi discuss in great detail the different types, and quality of Iranian-made small arms and the history of the weapons that are issued to the infantry of the Iranian army. As well as Yousef’s experience dealing with them as a former conscript who served in the Iranian army.
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Podcast Running Order:
Presentations:
Yousef Discussed the History of Iran’s Use of the G3
The Model’s of G3 Made By Iran
Yousef’s Personal Experience in the Iranian Military
Yousef explained that prior to the G3, the M1 Garand was the standard issue rifle of the Persian army (pre-Islamic revolution), which was selected due to the geographical nature of Persia with mountains and vast open regions which are suitable for battle rifles. Later on, the Persian The G3 was chosen over receiving a surplus of American M14s and over the Belgian FN FALs. /the G3 was selected as West Germany was willing to transfer the technology and give Iran a license to produce the rifle. According to Yousef, 165,000 rifles were produced per year by Iran from 1972/73 to 1978. By 1977, the G3 had replaced the M1 Garand and various other small arms that were in service.
During the revolution of 1979, revolutionaries attacked the factory producing the G3 which resulted in the destruction of some of the machinery and documents. This incident severely impacted the factory to the point it was shut down for two to three years. During the Iran-Iraq War, Iranian authorities acted with all haste to reopen the factory and get it in operational condition to contribute to the war effort as the demand for arms and ammunition was sky rocketing. According to Yousef, the factory was closed from roughly 1978 to the early 80s, based on the information he has.
Yousef then spoke about his experience in the military and with handling the G3 and other weaponry such as the Oerlikon autocannons with an interesting “warning” from his superior officer!
You can check out Yousef’s Farsi small arms and vehicle information Telegram channel, Tankograd, here. Yousef will be contributing a series of interesting article here on Silah Report.
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