Iranian Army Forces Fire Optimized Maverick Missiles on 4th Day of Drills

The Iranian Army forces staging massive exercises in the Southern and Southeastern parts of the country successfully fired optimized air-to-ground tactical maverick missiles.
The missiles were fired on the fourth day of Mohammad Rasoulallah (PBUH) drills on Sunday by F4 and Sukhoi 24 fighter jets to support the Naval units present in the wargames zone.

The missiles have been produced by the Iranian defensive industries and supplied to the Air Force.

Also, conducting air patrol missions, aerial refueling with Sukhoi 24 jets and supporting other units were among the other drilling plans of the Iranian Air Force in the fourth stage of the wargames.

Different units of the Iranian Army’s Ground Force, Navy, Air Force and Air Defense started six days of massive joint military drills along the country’s Southern and Southeastern coasts on Thursday.

The military exercises codenamed Mohammad Rasoulallah (PBUH) cover an area of 2.2 million square kilometers from the East of the Strait of Hormuz to the Southern parts of the Gulf of Aden.

On the third day of the maneuvers on Saturday, Iran successfully tested its Skyguard Air Defense System to shoot down hypothetical enemy drones during the massive drills underway in the Southern parts of the country.

The Skyguard missile defense system was put on test on the third day of the ongoing Mohammad Rasoulallah (PBUH) military exercises.

The missiles fired from the Skyguard Air Defense system successfully hit several drones of the hypothetical enemy, including the home-made Hazem Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Skyguard is a laser-based air defense system to protect airports and other areas against a variety of military threats, including short-range ballistic missiles, short- and long-range rockets, artillery shells, mortars, drones and cruise missiles.

Also yesterday, Iran tested its home-made mid-range Shalamcheh missiles fired from its new air defense system, Mersad, which is capable of destroying different types of modern fighter jets and drones.

The home-made Shalamcheh missiles hit three drones with very small radar cross section after the stealth aircraft were discovered and detected by the Mersad missile shield’s radars.

“Although Shalamcheh missile is similar to Hag missile in appearance, it has special advantages compared with the Hag,” Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli told FNA.

“The drone type targeted in this mission had very small cross sections and the operating systems were not aware of its flight either,” he added.

Shalamcheh is a Mach 3 mid-range missile that can also be used as a short-range air defense system.

Iran announced in May the successful test-firing of the country’s new air defense system, Mersad, with a capability of destroying different modern fighter jets and drones.

“Mersad is a mid-altitude missile defense system which enjoys more and better capabilities in intercepting targets, electronic warfare and also its radar covers a wider and farther areas compared with its foreign rivals and it has been built completely by Iranian experts,” Esmayeeli told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony to test-fire the missile shield.