Deputy DM Underlines Iran’s Huge Advancements in Building Fighters, Drones, Cruise Missiles

Deputy Defense Minister and Head of Iran’s Aerospace Organization General Mehdi Farahi underscored the country’s high capabilities in building different types of fighters, drones, cruise missiles and other military tools, weapons and equipment in recent years.
“Iran has earned eye-catching development in building drones, helicopters, fighter jets and passenger planes, cruise and ballistic missiles, and in general in various areas of aerospace technologies,” Farahi said, addressing a forum at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran on Monday.

He underlined that the country’s dependence on foreign states for building different military tools and weapons has decreased to the least.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems.

The country has repeatedly made it clear that its military might is merely based on the state’s defense doctrine of deterrence and that it poses no threat to other countries.

In similar remarks earlier on Saturday, a senior air defense commander also underlined inefficiency of the sanctions on Iran’s progress, and said Tehran has gained self-sufficiency in manufacturing different types of military tools and equipment.

“Some major world states enjoy the monopoly in building military equipment and most countries don’t have such a capability, but manufacturing such equipment has happened in Iran and we have been able to grow self-sufficient in repairing (overhauling) and building warfare tools,” Commander of Martyr Major General Habibi Air Defense Base in Northeastern Iran General Alireza Nasrollahnejad told FNA.

He downplayed the impacts of the western sanctions on the progress of Iran’s Air Force, and said, “Air Force experts have turned the threats into opportunities and managed to meet the needs to different parts through cooperation with scientific and academic centers.”

Noting that the Iranian Army has developed strategies and macro-scale defensive policies for the next ten years, Nasrollahnejad emphasized, “We can effectively confront any possible threat with maximum power.”

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo.

Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country’s military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

In related remarks in September 2013, Iranian Supreme Leader’s Advisor for Military Affairs General Seyed Reza Pardis said Iran has produced a number of weapons and military equipment which are more advanced than their western rivals.

“The Air Force has succeeded in the production of certain weapons and equipment which are more advanced than the western models,” Pardis told FNA.

“The path paved by the Air Force towards self-sufficiency is highly valuable and production of airplanes, (jet) engines and designing planes were some heavy and high-class projects in which we have succeeded,” he added.

The Iranian Armed Forces have recently test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of home-made weapons, tools and equipment, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircrafts, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems, during massive military drills.

Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran’s wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor.

Iran successfully tested second generation of Sejjil missiles and brought it into mass production in 2013.

Sejjil missiles are considered as the third generation of Iran-made long-range missiles.

Also, Iran’s 2000km-range, liquid-fuel, Qadr F ballistic missile can reach territories as far as Israel.

Iran’s surface-to-surface Sejjil missile, the long-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile which has a range of up to 2,000 km, and Zelzal and Fateh missiles have all been developed by the Aerospace Organization of the Defense Industries.

This is while the solid-fuel, two-stage Sejjil missile with two engines, is capable of reaching a very high altitude and therefore has a longer range than that of the Shahab 3 model.