The Makran IFV, an

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

(IFV), is the highly modernized and upsized copy of the

BTR-50 The BTR-50 (BTR stands for ''Bronetransporter'' (), literally "armored transporter") is a Soviet Union, Soviet tracked Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armored personnel carrier (APC) based on the PT-76 light tank chassis. The BTR-50 was developed ...

APC. The vehicle is produced and designed by the Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization. It was unveiled in June 2020 by the

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...

. The vehicle is named after the Makran coastal region, a region that stretches between Iran and Pakistan.

History

Origins

During the period of the Shah,

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

purchased and received around 300

's, and during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

hundreds were captured. While only 150-270 are estimated to be in service, hundreds are currently in storage, and a couple were given to the

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF; ), also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iranian-backed paramilitary umbrella group that operates within Iraq. Although formally and legally part of the Iraqi Armed Forces and reportin ...

. The

IRGC The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khomeini as a military branch in May 1979 i ...

realized after the

, that the

s and

BTR-60 The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet Union, Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR (vehi ...

s it had needed more armour and firepower, leading to the development of the Makran, Heidar-6, and Heidar-7. The Sedad, a

PB with an unmanned

ZU-23-2 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Develo ...

was developed as a temporary solution.

Development

A tour of an

run upgrade facility by

Tasnim News Agency Tasnim News Agency () is a semi-official news agency in Iran associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Launched in 2012, its purpose is to cover a variety of political, social, economic and international subjects along with ma ...

appears to show some of the captured

s and

MT-LB The MT-LB (, literally "multi-purpose towing vehicle light armored") is a Soviet Union, Soviet multi-purpose, fully amphibious vehicle, amphibious, tracked Armoured fighting vehicle, armored fighting vehicle in use since the 1970s. It was also ...

s currently in storage, with Raad unmanned turrets being produced in the factory. Videos posted on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in 2021 appear to show an unpainted prototype moving through water. Another prototype or in-completed Makran was seen in the same Tasnim News Agency video tour, which only had the unmanned turret and side armor upgrades; it was painted in grey and tan, with some unpainted parts. In June 2020, the vehicle was displayed for the first time, alongside an upgraded T-72M dubbed "Rakhsh" and a heavily upgraded

dubbed "Heidar-7".

Design

Design and upgrades

The Makran has been so heavily upgraded that one may not be able to notice the

hull. The IFV has upgraded hull modifications: a newly welded frontal armor plate, thicker side armor, and thicker floor plating. It also has a new unmanned turret called "Raad-2", armed with a

Shipunov 2A42 The Shipunov 2A42 is a Soviet/Russian 30 mm autocannon. It is built by the Tulamashzavod Joint Stock Company and named after . Design The 30 mm 2A42 autocannon was developed as a replacement for 2A28 Grom and has a dual feed. One i ...

30mm

automatic cannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

and a

7.62mm The 7.62 mm caliber is a nominal caliber used for a number of different cartridges. Historically, this class of cartridge was commonly known as .30 caliber, the equivalent in Imperial and United States Customary measures. It is most com ...

coaxial machine gun A weapon mount is an assembly or mechanism (engineering), mechanism used to hold a weapon (typically a gun) onto a weapon platform, platform in order for it to function at maximum capacity. Weapon mounts can be broken down into two categories: st ...

. The "Raad" unmanned turret contains a brand new

fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hum ...

, a thermal-imaging sensor, night-vision cameras, a

laser range finder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter or laser distance meter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by ...

, 3-6 smoke canister launchers, and is controlled via a display panel in the hull. The laser range finder has a range of 10,000 meters, and the thermal-imaging sensor has a range of 4,000 meters. The vehicle stores 500 rounds of 30mm ammunition for the

auto-cannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bulle ...

, and 2000 rounds of

ammunition for the

. The vehicle's driver also has a new cupola and periscope, to fit with the newly molded frontal armor.

Missile capabilities

Images show two

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...

s on display next to the Makran, which may imply that the Makran can carry

s. Some Iranian sources have also reported that the vehicles can fire "missiles". Reports from

GlobalSecurity GlobalSecurity.org is an American independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that serves as a think tank, and research and consultancy group. Focus The site is focused on national and international security issues; military analysis, sys ...

and various Russian news agencies say it is possible to install

ATGM An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

s onto the vehicle, and is an option for purchasers. The

s may be the

Almaz The Almaz () program was a highly secret Soviet Union, Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To co ...

, which is believed by an anonymous "military technology analyst" on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

to have been developed from an Israeli Spike ATGM left behind in the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

. Iranian sources report that the

s displayed may be the

Toophan The Toophan ( "typhoon", rarely Toofan) is an Iranian SACLOS anti-tank guided missile reverse-engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile. The Toophan 1, an unlicensed copy of the BGM-71A TOW missile, began mass production in 1988 and the T ...

instead, another Iranian

SACLOS Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator must continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or the ...

. However, closer up photos clearly show a Sadid-1

launcher identical to those on Iranian helicopters.

Misconceptions

Some have claimed, be that incorrectly, that the Makran's turret is that of a

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle f theinfantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development his ...

. However the two differentiate in size, looks, capability, structure, and adaptability. The reasoning behind an unmanned turret is to increase crew survivability and adaptability, not to increase ammunition storage.

Operators

Current operators

References

{{reflist Infantry fighting vehicles of the post–Cold War period Tracked infantry fighting vehicles Armoured fighting vehicles of Iran Tracked armoured fighting vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 2020s