TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Deputy Defense Minister and Head of Iran's Aerospace Organization General Mehdi Farahi underscored the country's progress in building different types of missiles, and announced plans to manufacture new anti-armor missiles.


"We have hundreds of projects each year to enhance the level of our (military) products," Farahi said, addressing a forum on the superior ammunitions of the Ground Force in Tehran on Wednesday.

He referred to Iran's capability in building anti-armor missiles, and said, "We have manufactured Toufan (Hurricane) missiles in seven generations, from Toufan 1 to Toufan 7, using the same base and platform of TOW missiles and this trend continues."

Farahi said that Iran has plans to build more advanced anti-armor missiles, and plans to continue upgrading the Toufan projects up to Toufan 11.

Meantime, he said the country is now in possession of other missiles, including Saeqeh, Tondar, Tousan, Dehlaviyeh, etc. which can be fired from helicopters, tanks and other platforms.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

Tehran launched an 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 tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

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.

In relevant remarks in April, Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said that Iran's Ground Force has test-fired new mid-range ballistic missiles.

"A series of new missiles have been designed to be built by the Army's Ground Force," Pourdastan told FNA.

"The laboratory production of these missiles has started and one or two samples have been test-fired," he added.

Pourdastan said that the new missiles have higher range and quality compared with Naze'at-10 medium-range ballistic missiles.

Noting that the Ground Force is building the missiles in cooperation with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Aerospace Force, he said that the new missiles will be unveiled and used in the form of a new class of missiles.

By Fars News Agency

 

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