Air Force Fighters Preparing for Army Day Parades

In these exercises different Air Force fighter jets, including F4, F14, Saeqeh (Thunder), F5, F7, Mig-29, Sukhoi 24, and C-130 transportation planes flew in different formations.

The Army Day ceremony will take place at the mausoleum of the Founder of the Islamic Republic, the Late Imam Khomeini, in Southern Tehran on Friday.

During the parades, the Army units will display different weapons and military tools and equipment, including different kinds of fighters, choppers, drones, ground-to-ground missiles, air-to-ground missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, tactical and armed vehicles, surface and underwater vessels, electronic and telecommunication equipment, light and mid-light weapons, different kinds of artillery and mortar-launchers, air defense systems and engineering and logistic equipment.

Senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, as well as a host of top military commanders attended the ceremony.

The occasion marks the establishment of the Islamic Republic’s Army.

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

Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran’s wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor, specially at a time of heightened threats by the US.

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.