Iran starts mass producing naval cruise missile

Iran’s defense minister on Saturday inaugurated the mass production of the country’s homegrown long-range naval missile “Qadir”, while a first cargo of the anti-ship cruise missiles was delivered to the IRGC Navy.

In a ceremony to inaugurate the missile production line, Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan referred to ‘Qadir’ as a “strategic and effective missile in the naval battles.”

As regards the features of the new missile, Dehghan said it is prepared for rapid launch, flies in low altitudes with high navigation capabilities, hits the targets precisely with great destructive power, suits for electronic warfare thanks to advanced radars, and can be launched from various types of vessels and even a helicopter, helping extend its operational range.

The minister also noted that videos of the Qadir show it identifying and annihilating a naval target at a distance of 300 kilometers away from the coast.

Dehghan then noted that Iran’s Defense Ministry is the region’s dominating producer of missiles, stressing that “precision, speed and quality” of the projectiles have boosted the country’s military power.

The domestically-made cruise naval missile was already unveiled in August 2014 by President Hassan Rouhani.

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

Tehran has repeatedly assured other nations that its military might poses no threat to the regional countries, saying that the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.