NOURNEWS - The Iranian Army’s Air Force kicked off massive drills codenamed “Eqtedar Havayee Fadayian Harim-e Velayat in the Central parts of the country on Monday.
Spokesman of the drills Brigadier General Farhad Goudarzi said on Monday that during the two-day wargames a broad range of fighter jets, bombers, transport aircraft, refueling aircraft, interceptors, reconnaissance planes and drones will fly.
Various types of home-made drones equipped with smart long-range bombs, ammunition with pinpointing accuracy and radar-equipped jammers would fly in the wargames zone, he noted.
Sukhoi Su-24 fighter bombers and MiG-29, F-5, F-5, F-7 and F-14 fighter jets which have already been overhauled by experts at the Iranian Army Air Force are participating in the exercises, General Goudarzi said.
The drills also involve modern warfare tactics to practice countering emerging threats.
Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh had yesterday announced the start of the massive aerial wargames in Isfahan general zone on Monday.
“Dozens of fighter jets, bombers, heavy and semi-heavy transport, refueling, interception and reconnaissance planes, air patrols and drones will perform the main phase and operational phase of the drills for 2 days,” he added.
General Nasirzadeh said that different types of heavy bomber planes, Sukhoi 24, F4, F5, F7, F-7, MiG-29, F-14, Saeqeh, Boeing 707 and 747 refueling aircraft, C130 transport and logistic aircraft along with various types of drones, including Karrar, Ababil, Arash and Kaman 99 equipped with pin-pointing missiles, long-range smart bombs and radar-equipped jammers are present.
He added that carrying out surveillance, reconnaissance and imaging operations by using aerial images taken by manned and unmanned aircraft, destroying air and ground targets using pin-pointing and smart ammunition, air patrol operations using interceptor aircraft equipped with indigenous missiles to confront any enemy air aggression, air refueling and modern warfare operations to counter the enemy’s new threats are important parts of these wargames which will be conducted on a large scale.
General Nasirzadeh underlined that indigenous and upgraded systems and weapons, including heavy and semi-heavy smart bombs, various types of laser, television, thermal and radar-equipped missiles as well as different rockets and bombs produced by Iranian experts will be displayed and used during the drills.
He added that Iranian specialists have designed and produced all these weapons and military equipment in conditions that the country was under the harshest sanctions.
The Iranian Army and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) had last month staged joint aerial wargames codenamed 'Modafe'an-e Aseman-e Velayat 99' (Guardians of Velayat's Sky-99).
The two-day joint aerial drills codenamed 'Modafe'an-e Aseman-e Velayat 99' (Guardians of Velayat's Sky-99) wrapped up successfully on October 23 after displaying the state-of-the-art equipment and modern capacities of the Iranian Armed Forces in a vast expanse spreading in almost half of the country’s area, Lieutenant Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh announced.
The wargame, which was launched in a vast area succeeded to achieve all its predesigned objectives, Rahimzadeh said.
Using home-made defense equipment and systems was of great importance during the military maneuver, he said, adding, “All the equipment and systems used in this wargame (including reconnaissance, missile, radar, electronic warfare, etc.) have been produced by the skilled experts and elites of Armed Forces and defense industry of the country.”
“The wargame was the first of its kind that was launched with completely Iran-made defense systems,” the commander added.
“Since long-range threats have been turned into one of the main threats to the airspace, tackling these threats has been put on top of the agenda. The domestically made Bavar-373 defense missile system hit its long-range targets in a real wargame.”
General Rahimzadeh also underlined the Iranian Air Defense Force's capability to trace and destroy electro-optic-guided targets.
"Today, with God's assistance, the Air Defense Force has gained the capability to confront the electro-optic-guided targets," said General Rahimzadeh, also the commander of the joint Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) aerial drills.
Iran's home-made strategic missile defense system Bavar 373 could successfully intercept and destroy an electro-optic-guided target during the wargames.
Bavar 373 for the first time within the framework of Iran's integrated air defense network, successfully detected, intercepted, fired and destroyed a target with a very low radar cross-section.
Iran unveiled the state-of-the-art surface-to-air Bavar 373 missile defense system, designed and manufactured by the country's experts, in August 2019.
It is a mobile missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy incoming hostile targets. The system employs missiles that have a maximum range of 300 kilometers.
The system is capable of simultaneously detecting up to 300 targets, tracking 60 targets at once and engaging six targets at a time.
Also, the Iranian Army and the IRGC's home-made phased-array radar systems detected and traced aggressive hostile flying objects during their joint aerial drills.
Qadir, Moraqeb and Bashir radars of the IRGC Aerospace Force and the Army Air Force detected flying targets over the general zone of the exercises, including manned and unmanned aircraft of the IRGC Aerospace Force and Army Air Force, which flew from various bases on the second day of massive aerial drills.
After detection and tracing, the three powerful radars provided information on the discovered flying targets to the country's integrated air defense network.
NOURNEWS