“The joint Army and IRGC wargames will start on Wednesday in a region as large as half of Iran’s area under the operational command and control of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base in a warlike situation,” General Rahimzadeh, who supervises the drills, said on Tuesday.
“Different types of home-made missile systems, radar, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and communication systems as well as optical surveillance network of the Army and the IRGC will exercise confrontation against air threats at low, medium and high altitude and long-range targets in fully operational conditions in an actual combat scenario under the operational command and control of the country’s air defense base and direct supervision of experts and evaluators of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters,” he added.
General Rahimzadeh said that in these exercise, the Army Air Force will be the stretched arm of the country’s Air Defense in the sky by flying all kinds of interceptor and bomber fighter jets as well as drones and will play two separate offensive and defensive roles.
He added that for the first time, the new generation of completely indigenous equipment and weapons will be used in the drills and fresh air defense tactics developed as a result of continued monitoring of the enemies will be practiced in action in a warlike situation.
Iran has conducted major military drills in recent years to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and state-of-the-art equipment.
Each year, the country inaugurates a host of new projects and hardware developed with reliance on domestic capabilities. The Islamic Republic maintains that its defense power is driven by deterrence and poses no threat to any other country.
Last month, the Iranian Army’s Naval, Ground and Air Defense units also held 3-day massive drills in the Southern waters and coasts of the country.
The wargames, dubbed Zolfaqar 99, were staged from East of the Hormuz Strait to the Northern Indian Ocean with an aim of enhancing the security of regional waters and international shipping routes.
The drills started under the command of the Army’s Zolfaqar base, with observers from the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base in attendance.
The drills covered an area of two million square kilometers in the Eastern waters of the Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea and North Indian Ocean up to 10 degrees North.
Units of the Army’s Air and Ground Forces contributed to the maneuvers, during which tactical offensive and defensive strategies was drilled in line with the country’s agenda to safeguard its territorial waters and maritime access routes.
During the military exercises, the Armed Forces put to test different home-made defense systems, including drones, torpedoes, surface-to-surface and coast-to-sea cruise missiles, surface-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and rocket launchers loaded on vessels.
During the exercises, Iran’s home-made ground-to-air missile named Shalamcheh which has been optimized recently destroyed a hypothetical enemy’s flying object with low radar cross section.
Also, the Army Air Force’s F-4 bomber fighters, after a long-range flight from their bases to the drills zone and conducting aerial refueling operations from the tanker aircraft destroyed ground targets, using pin-point missiles.
Meantime, the F-4 bomber fighters successfully practiced shooting at moving targets in the sea.
Bombing of the hypothetical enemy’s targets in the coast was another part of the exercises which was successfully carried out by the Air Force’s Phantoms.
Source » farsnews