Iran launches large-scale air defense military drill

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran’s army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have launched a joint military exercise with a focus on air defense that they say will encompass half the country’s airspace, Al Jazeera reports.

The two-day drill, launched in Iran’s central desert area in the early hours of Tuesday, was led by the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defence Headquarters.

As part of the exercise, which military commanders said aims to closely replicate war, manned and unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles were to be launched against ground targets in order to test the performance of air defence and radar systems.

State television broadcast footage that showed several missiles being launched from locally manufactured air defence systems.

Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh, commander-in-chief of the Khatam al-Anbia base, said the IRGC’s 3rd Khordad missile defence system and the army’s 15th Khordad system had been deployed as part of the exercise, in addition to other Iranian electronic and cyber warfare equipment.

The latest exercises come as both the Iranian army and the IRGC held drills and mobilised weaponry to the southwestern areas of the country bordering Azerbaijan.

Iran has said it is “concerned” about the purported presence of Israeli assets near its borders, in addition to “terrorist” forces brought in during Azerbaijan’s 44-day war with Armenia last year.