Islamic Iran to Unveil New Home-Made Ballistic Missiles Next Week

Iran announced on Wednesday that it plans to unveil a number of newly-manufactured home-made ballistic missiles on May 24.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said a number of new defense products, “including some vessels, ballistic missiles and new ammunitions will come into use on the occasion of Khorramshahr Liberation Anniversary (1982)”.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s forces captured the port city of Khorramshahr on October 26, 1980 in a surprise attack on the early days of Iraqi-imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) but Iranian forces liberated the city on 3rd of Khordad (May 24, 1982) in a massive military operation named ‘Beit-al-Moqaddas’.

Vahidi explained that the newly produced ballistic missiles to be unveiled on May 24 are the product of hard work and extensive research by Iranian experts, adding that they will be delivered to the Iranian Armed Forces in an official ceremony in the near future.

Iran has made giant progress in missile-production technology during the last decade.

In a recent case, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari announced in February that the IRGC has started mass-production of a recently-developed smart anti-ship ballistic missile.

“The IRGC’s smart ballistic missiles are now in mass-production and this type of missiles can hit and destroy targets with high-precision,” Jafari told reporters in a news conference here in Tehran in February.

“These new missiles enjoys supersonic speed and cannot be tracked or intercepted by enemy,” the commander said, adding that missiles can hit targets 300km away with high-precision.

The Iranian Defense Ministry in October delivered the third generation of home-made Fateh-110 high-precision ballistic missiles to the IRGC Aerospace Force.

“The operational movement of the missile unit of the IRGC Aerospace Force will be remarkably boosted by these missiles,” Vahidi said during a ceremony at the time.

He further announced that Iran plans to test the fourth generation of Fateh-110 missiles in the near future.

In September, Iran announced that the country has successfully test-fired the third generation of Fateh-110 missiles.

The Fateh-110 is a short-range, road-mobile, solid-propellant, high-precision ballistic missile with advanced navigation and control systems.

The Fateh-110 has been designed and developed by the Iranian experts in the Defense Ministry’s Aerospace Organization and has not been modeled on any foreign product.

The Iranian defense ministry has made great achievements in designing and producing missiles, including the surface-to-surface solid-fuel Sejjil missiles, the long-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile which has a range of up to 2,000 km, and Zelzal and Fateh missiles.

The new test came days after Iran test-fired a new type surface to surface, cruise missile, named Qiam 1.

Iran has been pushing an arms development program in recent years in a bid to reach self-sufficiency. Tehran launched its 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 jet fighters and armored vehicles as well as radar-avoiding missiles and other high-tech weapons.

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.