Iran Joins World Club of Anti-Armour Missile Producers

“The Islamic Iran currently stands among the world’s top five producers of anti-armor missiles,” Brigadier General Qassem Taqizadeh said while addressing a ceremony in Tehran on Monday.

“At the same time, we have attained a very high capacity with regard to manufacturing various kinds of satellites, Cruise missiles and other types of military equipment,” he added.

The top military official noted that Iran’s defense industry was totally dependent on other countries before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but that trend changed after the revolution and the country now enjoys a high place in the world with regard to development of its military industries.

He pointed to Iran’s progress in the fields of manufacturing precision-guided missiles and smart air defense systems, saying that the domestically-built Bavar-373 missile defense system, which has a range of 120 kilometers and can reach an altitude of 27 kilometers, is one of the most important defense achievements of the country after the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

Iran unveiled the state-of-the-art surface-to-air Bavar-373 missile defense system, designed and manufactured by the country’s experts, in August 2019.

It is a mobile missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy incoming hostile targets. The system employs missiles that have a maximum range of 300 kilometers.

The system is capable of simultaneously detecting up to 300 targets, tracking 60 targets at once and engaging six targets at a time.

Iran has repeatedly said its military might poses no threat to other countries, and that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.

Also in his remarks, the Iranian defense official said the country had no place in space technology before the Islamic Revolution, adding, “We are currently among the world’s top eight countries in the field of space technology.”

Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Morteza Barari said on Saturday the country is preparing to launch its new domestically-developed scientific observation satellite in the “coming days.”

Barari told AFP that the manufacture of the Zafar (Victory) satellite “began three years ago with the participation of 80 Iranian scientists.”

The 113-kilogram satellite will be launched by a Simorgh carrier 530 kilometers (329 miles) above the Earth, where it will make 15 orbits daily, said Berari.