TEHRAN, Mar 1 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran yesterday, unveiled the manoeuvre of air defence systems, stored in underground tunnels.
Video footage cited by Tasnim news agency, showed a homegrown air defence system belonging to the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), driving out of an underground tunnel.
The unveiling came, as Iran launched a large-scale real-combat air defence exercise, codenamed Modafean Aseman-e Velayat 1401.
During the drill, invading targets were successfully destroyed by the homegrown Khordad 15th and Khordad 3rd, air defence systems of the army’s air force and IRGC’s Aerospace Division respectively.
In addition, two other domestically-developed air defence systems of Dezful, belonging to the IRGC’s Aerospace Division, and Majid of the army, destroyed the cruise missiles fired at the area of the manoeuvre.
Commenting on the achievements, the drill’s spokesman, Abbas Farajpour, said, the homegrown air defence systems managed to successfully track and destroy the targets assigned to them by the country’s integrated air defence network.
He added that, attacking drones that intended to enter the area of the manoeuvre were detected and tracked by the country’s radar network, and in coordination with the integrated air defence network, they were assigned to the Majid system for being shot down.
Farajpour said, among the objectives of the drill are putting up a robust and multilayered defence against airborne attacks of any kind, evaluating the effectiveness and preparedness of homegrown equipment, and providing the country’s critical centres with effective protection.
The Khordad 15th system is a medium-range one, capable of hitting a wide spectrum of invading aircraft, such as reconnaissance planes, bombers and tactical fighters. The air defence system can detect and trace six targets simultaneously, and hit them with a diverse spectrum of homegrown missiles.
The Khordad 3rd system is equipped with active phased array radars and can engage with four targets simultaneously, firing two missiles at each.
Majid air defence system is an agile electro-optic system, with an operational range of eight kilometres. Dezful is a mobile short-range air defence system used for hitting different flying targets, including fixed-wing aircraft, manned and unmanned helicopters, cruise missiles and even bombs and missiles dropped by airplanes.
