IRGC Commander: Iranian Armed Forces Exercise Tactics to Confront Cruise Missile Attacks

“During the wargames, the indigenized and Iran-made air defense systems of the IRGC and Army conducted missions in a combinations,” General Hajizadeh told reporters on the sidelines of the Air Defense military drills dubbed as Velayat 97.

He added that the Iranian military forces practiced detecting, targeting and intercepting flying objects, and conducted electronic warfare and air- and ground-based air defense combat tactics successfully.

Hajizadeh said that the Armed Forces also practiced combat against laser- and smart-bomb-firing planes which fly some 100km away and hit targets with remote-controlled or smart bombs, and used anti-cruise systems to intercept the cruise missiles.

The firs day of Velayat 97 wargames were held in the Central, Eastern, Northern and Western parts of Iran on Monday.

During the drills, Iran unveiled a new home-made artillery system named ‘Seraj’.

Seraj is a 35-mm artillery system with an optimized cannon which uses radar and a new optic system to intercept the enemy targets, specially tiny flying objects.

During the Monday wargames, Seraj successfully intercepted and destroyed a mocked drone of the enemy.

Also in the wargames, the home-made Third of Khordad air defense system which can trace and target fighter jets, bombers and cruise missiles up to 25,000 meters (almost 75,000f) in altitude intercepted a hypothetical enemy flying object with Sayyad (Hunter) missiles designed for mid-range and high-altitude air defense systems.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force, the IRGC Aerospace Force and a part of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Air Force are staging a joint two-day drills across the country.

“The drills take place over an area measuring 500,000 square kilometers throughout Iran’s Northern, Eastern, Western and Central parts, with the participation of Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force, Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a part of Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force,” Deputy Commander of the Iranian Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said.

He added that all systems used in this wargame are domestic and basically one of the functions of such drills is testing the new ammunition, missiles and new systems.