Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Iranian Army's Ground and Air Forces will conduct a massive exercise in late November, Press TV reported.

The news was announced by Commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan.

The capabilities of armored and airborne units will be tested in the drill, codenamed Qamar-e Bani Hashem, Pourdastan said on November 11.

He also said that asymmetric warfare tactics will be practiced during the war games and various armored, artillery, airborne and electronic units of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces will participate in the military exercise.

Pourdastan stated on September 23 that the week-long Qamar-e Bani Hashem drill will be staged in the southeastern part of Iran in an area covering 250,000 square kilometers.

He stressed that advanced indigenous weapons will be tested during the exercise.

Iranian Army held massive military exercises in October with the purpose of countering possible attacks by enemy missile.

The five-day Modafe'an-e Aseman-e Velayat 5 (Defenders of the Velayat Skies 5) drill covered an area of 700,000 square kilometers.

The maneuvers were staged in the northwestern, western, central, southwestern, and southern parts of the country.

Last month, the Iranian Army staged a large-scale military maneuver with the purpose of countering possible attacks by enemy missiles.

Iran's Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) conducted a joint air defense drill, codenamed Modafe'an-e Aseman-e Velayat 4 (Defenders of the Velayat Skies 4), in November 2012.

The drill covered an area of 950,000 square kilometers in the provinces of Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Sistan-and-Baluchestan, Hormuzgan, Kerman, and parts of Fars and Yazd Provinces.

Iran has repeatedly stated that its military power poses no threat to other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.

Tehran maintains that the maneuvers are defensive in nature and meant to convey a message of peace and friendship to regional countries.

Iran recently inaugurated the production line of the "Sayyad-2" surface-to-air missiles.

Iran's Defense minister Hussein Dehghan said that the Sayyad-2 missile uses a solid-fuel engine, adding that it combines guidance system with high operation capabilities.

Sayyad-2 is an upgraded version of the Sayyad-1 system, which itself was developed from the Russian S-75 system.

The missile is comprised of two-stage missiles that can target all kinds of aircrafts, including bombers, at medium and high altitudes. It is also equipped with a 200-kilogram warhead and has a speed of 1,200 meters per second.

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

The Iranian army recently test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes, and tested a large number of its domestic weapons, tools, and equipment, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircrafts, UAVs, and air defense and electronic systems during massive military drills.