Army Tests Home-Made Weapons in Exercises in Southwestern Iran

Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said his forces tested the latest home-made weaponries in military drills in the country’s Southwestern province of Khuzestan.

The Iranian Army on Monday started two days of wargames in Khuzestan by exercising anti airborne tactics.

The drills, codenamed Ashoura, conducted in Dokhtar Borji zone.

Speaking to reporters about the drills, Pourdastan said a sniper rifle, whose range exceeds 3 kilometers, has been successfully tested.

“During this drill, domestically developed arms equipped with the latest combat technology are tested,” he added.

Meantime, spokesman for the wargames Brigadier General Ali Mehrabi said on Tuesday that the military exercises were carried out in a zone sprawling over 70 square kilometers of land.

“The Army commandos courageously thwarted (hypothetical) enemy’s heliborne operations and targeted its helicopters,” he said.

In September, Iran unveiled Shaher 14.5mm sniper rifle. The rifle is capable of targeting and destroying concrete strongholds, armored vehicles and choppers.

In February 2010, an Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) official announced that Iran has designed a new kind of surface-to-air missiles to bring down the United States’ much boasted Apache choppers.

“Enemies should not imagine that if their Apache choppers have shown a mighty and desirable performance in Iraq and Afghanistan, they can show the same might and power in a possible aggression against Iran. We will certainly put an end to the power of their Apaches through our measures,” Colonel Nasser Arab-Beigi, the head of IRGC’s Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with FNA at the time.