Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, in an interview with Defa Press published on Monday, lauded the IRIAF for its remarkable military prowess and combat engagement capabilities
“The authority of the Iranian armed forces pleases Iran’s allies and friends and draws the ire of enemies,” he said.
He pointed to the recently concluded Eghtedar (Authority) 1402 drills, which were held in the Nasrabad region of the country’s central province of Isfahan, stating that different smart munitions with pinpoint accuracy as well as long-range weapons were employed during the massive military exercises.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force proved that it can conduct various day-long, non-stop operations,” Nasirzadeh noted.
The high-ranking Iranian military commander further said that IRIAF helicopters, equipped with night-vision systems, carried out nocturnal sorties to dispatch troops and managed to successfully conduct surveillance and combat operations – the first of its kind in years – during the two-day-long maneuvers.
He underscored that Iranian military forces hold routine exercises in order to boost their combat preparedness, saying that the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Ground Force demonstrated the growth in its combat capabilities on the ground and the readiness to face any potential future threat during Eghtedar 1402 drills.
The war game involved troops from all units of the Army Ground Force. The force employed homegrown purpose-built loitering munitions in the exercise to hit fixed and moving targets on the ground within a range of 10 kilometers.
Sina and Fateh are the two Iranian loitering munitions, also known as suicide or exploding drones, which can loiter around a specific area until a target is located.
The homegrown weapons are furnished with warheads weighing from 300 to 1,000 grams and can wait passively in the air for 10 to 15 minutes before hitting various targets, such as the gatherings of hostile forces, during a ground battle.
The Iranian Army Ground Force units also launched sophisticated “Fath-360” and “Fajr” long-range missiles in the exercise.
The two missiles, whose operational range varies from 120 to 180 km and can detonate targets at a speed of Mach 4, are considered the Ground Force’s trump card in battles, the spokesperson said.
SD/PressTV
