Iranian Army forces hit targets using indigenous anti-ship cruise missiles during missive drills

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iranian Army units have successfully launched domestically-manufactured anti-ship cruise missiles, detonating various naval targets during massive military exercises in an area stretching from the eastern sector of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to the northern tip of the Indian Ocean.

Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, the spokesman for the drills codenamed Zolfaqar-1400, said on Monday Iranian naval forces fired domestically-manufactured Qader (Able), Nasr (Victory) and Qadir missiles on the second day of the war game to practice hitting hostile watercraft of the mock enemy.

He noted that homegrown Iranian missiles, launched from tactical missile sites off the Makran coast, could also forcibly strike a target vessel located 200 kilometers off the shoreline.

Mousavi went on to say that a Nasr anti-ship cruise missile was fired from a guided-missile cruiser of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy to successfully hit surface targets.

The senior Iranian military official added that a long-range Qadir missile, also shot from a guided-missile cruiser, struck its surface target from a distance of 300 kilometers away.

Moreover, the Iranian Navy’s Tareq and Ghadir submarines confronted surface and subsurface simulated threats, using homegrown torpedoes to blow up various naval targets.

Tareq Kilo-class attack submarine launched a domestically-manufactured Valfajr torpedo to hit a predetermined target successfully. The submarine also planted DM-1 naval mines during the exercise.

In another operation, the Iranian Navy’s offshore units flew homegrown and radar-evading Omid drone to jam the radars of the mock enemy stationed on the coast. The unmanned aerial vehicle is said to be fairly effective in electronic warfare.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy is now in possession of a wide and diverse range of cruise missiles in its inventory, Mousavi also said.

Homegrown anti-ship cruise missiles are armed with warheads of high explosive power and can withstand electronic warfare, he added, emphasizing that the armaments were put to test during the drills.

Mousavi said Iranian naval forces are able to destroy faraway targets, using indigenous surface-to-sea missile systems as well as surface and underwater units that are equipped with a variety of indigenous missiles.

Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great progress in developing and manufacturing a broad range of military equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in this regard.

Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the Islamic Republic will not hesitate to build up its defense capabilities, emphasizing such abilities are entirely meant for the purpose of defense and will be never subject to negotiations.

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