Iranian Army Preparing for 8 Wargames

Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said his forces will stage eight sets of drills in the next Iranian year (starts March 21, 2014).
“The Ground Force programs for the year 1393 (March 2014-March 2015) comprise of eight wargames, including a drill in the cyber field for the first time,” he said.

The Iranian commander underlined Iran’s full preparedness to confront enemy’s possible threats, but stressed that the Armed Forces need to maintain their preparedness through exercises.

Iran’s Army and IRGC hold regular wargames to practice combat tactics and also test new home-made military tools, equipment and weapons in action.

Iranian officials and commanders have repeatedly underlined that all military exercises and trainings of the Iranian Armed Forces are merely meant to serve deterrent purposes.

“When the enemy observes that our Armed Forces are constantly in wargame zones and their fingers are kept on the trigger, it will not dare to invade the Islamic Iran’s borders,” Pourdastan said in January, underlining the significance of military trainings for boosting the country’s deterrent power.

As regards the Iranian Armed Forces’ military exercises, Pourdastan described wargames as “very important” to the Iranian military, and said drills have provided the Iranian military forces, including the Army Ground Force, with an opportunity to test its achievements and remove deficiencies for future missions.

The Iranian Ground Force conducted Beit ol-Moqaddas 25 in the general zone of Isfahan from May 20 to 24 in a bid to boost its units’ military preparedness and exercise different asymmetric tactics.

Lieutenant Commander of Ground Force for Training General Hossein Shokouhi told FNA at the time that different army units, including air force, airborne, infantry, armored, cavalry, artillery, air-defense, drone, communications and logistical units participated in the wargames.

Shokouhi further noted that during the drills, the Iranian army tested its latest home-made weapons and equipment, including the newly unveiled Shaher sniper rifle, Neinava tactical vehicle, optimized Scorpion tanks, anti-chopper launchers, Fadak wireless radio and Akhgar machinegun.

The commander also said that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and aircrafts were used in the exercises for reconnaissance and aerial imaging operations.