Iran Grows Self-Sufficient in Overhauling Navy Warships

Senior Iranian military officials said the three warships which came back into operation for the Navy earlier today had been overhauled by Iranian experts who had indigenized and manufactured thousands of important and hi-tech parts for repairing the three military ships.
Three newly-overhauled warships equipped with different advanced weapons and radar systems came back into operation in a ceremony attended by senior Iranian commanders on Sunday.

“Bringing the three new warships back into operation for the Iranian naval fleet shows that the Navy’s experts are capable of overhauling light and heavy vessels without relying on foreign experts,” Iranian Navy Deputy Commander for Engineering and Technical Affairs Rear Admiral Abbas Zamini told FNA on Sunday.

“After 12 months of repairs work and 328,000 man/hour of working, Iranian experts managed to indigenize 7,500 sensitive parts of Sirjan logistics warship,” Admiral Zamini said.

He pointed to the overhaul of Neyzeh, Tabarzin and Sirjan warships, and said, “The important measures taken on these warships included increasing their deterrence power through mounting missile launching systems and a 76mm cannon fire system and linking them to an integrated control system, mounting navigation radar systems, mounting rudder system, and also overhauling, mounting and operating three main engines and two main generators.”

Two missile-launching warships, namely Neyzeh and Tabarzin, as well as Sirjan logistic warship joined the Navy’s military fleet in the Southern waters of the country on Sunday in a ceremony participated by Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari and a number of commanders and officials of Bushehr’s second naval zone.

The three warships were launched after going through year-long overhauling process and improvement of their defensive capabilities.

In a relevant development on Saturday, another newly-overhauled warship, Lavan, and SH3D combat helicopter came back into operation as well.

Navy commanders said the overhaul of Lavan chopper carrier, including renovation and operationalizing its hydraulic systems which needs a very complicated technical procedure, has taken 33 months.

Meantime, the SH3D combat helicopter also came back into operation for the Navy after nearly 20 months of overhaul repairs and seven months of tests.

Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army Brigadier General Abdul-Rahim Mousavi and were present in the ceremony.

Lavan warship is capable of carrying RH and SH helicopters as well as armored personnel carriers.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

In September, Sayyari had announced in September that the country’s Navy has equipped its newly-overhauled warship, Lavan, with advanced weapons and radar systems to improve its performance and fire power.

“Some repairs and changes have been made to the body as well as the sailing, sonar and radar systems, weapons and information-gathering sensors of the warship,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in the Northern city of Noshahr at the time.

“The warship needed an overhaul and equipment with the state of the art and novel technologies and therefore the warship’s weapons have been modernized,” he added.

“The overhaul operations have been thoroughly made by the young and committed experts of the naval industry,” he added.

The Iranian Navy has accelerated and widened its progress after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei described it as “a strategic force”.

“Given the current issues of the world and today’s geopolitical conditions of the world, we should strengthen ourselves in sea and in coast as far as we can,” Ayatollah Khamenei stressed on November 28, 2010, addressing senior Navy commanders here in Tehran in a ceremony to commemorate the National Navy Day.

The leader also stressed that increasing manpower, recruiting talented personnel and taking innovations and initiatives into action are highly necessary for the future of the country’s naval forces.

Iran’s naval power has even been acknowledged by foes. In a Sep. 11, 2008 report, the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy said that in the two decades since the Iraqi imposed war on Iran, the Islamic Republic has excelled in naval capabilities and is able to wage unique asymmetric warfare against larger naval forces.

According to the report, Iran’s Navy has been transformed into a highly motivated, well-equipped, and well-financed force and is effectively in control of the world’s oil lifeline, the Strait of Hormuz.

The study says that if Washington takes military action against the Islamic Republic, the scale of Iran’s response would likely be proportional to the scale of the damage inflicted on Iranian assets.