As you probably know the Iranian military is working very hard with their corporate espionage spies in many countries to gain information on how to build better weaponry. They fully believe that they will be attacked due to their not-so-secret nuclear weapons manufacturing processing. Luckily, the embargoes and trade economic sanctions that have made this not so easy for them, as they previously expected.
However, they are able to get with some of their trading partners such as Russia, China, Venezuela, Syria, and others to import the things they need. Recently, the Iranian Air Force smuggled two pirated Xbox 360s from Venezuela for them to use in an old dilapidated, 1970s version of a Huey Cobra helicopter simulator.
And not long ago, Iranian president Amendinejad was bragging to the international press about this new advanced technology they had for their helicopter simulator, but what he didn't say was that the technology was really a Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming center knockoff, it wasn't even the real thing. Yes it's true, the Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming center would be an excellent tool for military training, or the training of helicopter pilots - certainly for tele-robotic UAV VTOL flying.
The Chinese knockoff version which was purchased in Venezuela, and then sold as bootleg to Iran to help with their military training brings about suspicions. First of all, the Iranians will be setting the skill level very low for their pilots, and their pilots will think that they are invincible, after winning so many victories using the gaming center. Thus, they will not realize their life expectancy is about one minute 35 seconds in the battlespace in a helicopter designed and built in the 1960s. Too bad for those poor pilots indeed.
Yes, the Iranian helicopters were originally built in the United States of America, and it is not completely junk, but it is a far cry from the type of military helicopter technology that the United States has today. And it is absolutely no match for the United States Navy's defense systems which we have in our fleet. If Iran thinks that this will help them win or defend their nation against a potential United States attack, they are smoking something, which is probably also bootleg.
There was an interesting article in Air Force Technology Online News recently; "Iran Launches Combat Helicopter Simulators" by Staff, published on September 17, 2010.
Whereas, these promises of military superiority by the Iranian president may sound legitimate, they are not. In fact, he is setting up his military for a great defeat, in what could be a war lasting no more than 24 to 36 hours, which would completely decimate the Iranian Revolutionary guard, and deplete them of all military assets and their ill-advised nuclear weapons program.
And really, with all due respect it will take a lot more than training for helicopter pilots flying 1960s vintage aircraft in combat in today's modern battlespace to compete in a war with the USA. Please consider all this.