Persian Gulf Google Earth File

Twenty years old, but still useful

Twenty years ago, when a battle between Iran and the west seemed imminent, I took the time to locate all thirteen of Iran’s Tactical Air Bases. And then, being a bit autismal, I rounded up several hundred other points of interest. These are available in PersianGulf.kml via Dropbox. Note that Iranian nuclear facilities are NOT on here.

This will become more useful if the situation devolves into another Tanker War, with the Strait of Hormuz starting to act like the Gulf of Aden has been. I geolocated a lot of oil/gas related facilities, this is just a sample that happens to have a helpful mostly sea background.

I have not looked at this closely, but I suspect that things will thrash around until there’s a reason for the U.S. B-2 fleet at Diego Garcia to spring into action.

When Iran constructed its nuclear program one of the design parameters was being ready for a 5,000 pound GBU-28 Bunker Buster. Today they’ll face 30,000 pound GBU-57 Massive Ordinance Penetrators, which will thoroughly wreck even their most hardened facilities.

The Iranian government will not survive this. The question is will whatever comes next be the reform their young people have wanted for so long, or will they pull together to resist the Great Satan in the west?

The U.S. doesn’t want this, but it’s a requirement for Netanyahu, who I think will be off to The Hague once his grip on power slips.