During the current war in Ukraine, Russia has launched some 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles. A barrage of this scope and scale, as Maya Carlin points out, is “unprecedented in the realm of 21st-century warfare.” It may also serve as a model for the Islamic Republic:
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Russian military bear parallel strategy and tactical capacity to some degree. Iran has witnessed Russia’s inability to project air superiority over Ukraine and observed its consequential reliance on its missile arsenal to maintain an upper hand over its perceived enemy. In recent years, the IRGC has depended on the development of its missile arsenal to serve as a critical tool of deterrence. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has proved the merits of this strategy.
In the last five years or so, Iran’s missile arsenal has greatly expanded to include highly accurate ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. While Iran perhaps first began to prioritize its missile development with the ultimate ambition of using them as nuclear delivery systems, the regime’s success in utilizing these weapons in recent conflicts and missions has proved ulterior usefulness. The IRGC has used its newly advanced arsenal to conduct attacks targeting Islamic State in Syria, oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, and Kurdish groups in northern Iraq. Iran has also been supplying its militias across the region with more lethal explosive-laden drones.
Iran’s emphasis on its missile capabilities is even spelled out in an internal bulletin from the IRGC. It reads, “Missiles, by building the balance of fear, can prevent war and will force adversaries to resort to diplomacy.” While this push to advance its missile arsenal began years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing conflict has strengthened Iran’s assertion.
Of all its proxy militias, Iran has provided Hizballah with the most missiles—an estimated 130,000—some of which are quite sophisticated, and all of which are aimed at Israel.
Read more on 19FortyFive: https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/what-iran-is-learning-from-russias-2000-missile-strikes-in-ukraine/