Zolfaghar-99: Iran Flies Combat Drone, Fires Naval Cruise Missile

By Staff, Agencies

The Iranian Army has flown homegrown combat drones during a large-scale military exercise underway in southeast Iran, while the military vessels have hit targets in the sea with a surface-to-surface naval cruise missile called Nasr [triumph], an official said.

The first combat drone developed by the Iranian Army experts, dubbed Kaman-12 [bow-12], carried out reconnaissance missions on Friday during the main stage of the Zolfaghar-99 war game, which covers an area of two million square kilometers in the eastern waters of the Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea and North Indian Ocean.

Moreover, the Air Force flew the ‘Ababil’ unmanned aircraft over the war game zone to detonate targets using smart bombs with pinpoint accuracy.  

In another operation in the sea, the Navy vessels fired a range of missiles to hit the targets, spokesperson for the exercise Rear Admiral Shahram Irani said.

He said the Iranian ‘Najm’ [star] corvette has launched Nasr cruise missiles to destroy the naval targets.

The main stages of the military exercise is attended by units of the Navy, Air Force, and Army Ground Forces and carried out in an area of two million square kilometers in the eastern waters of the Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea and North Indian Ocean.

Warships, submarines, aircraft and some equipment and weapons belonging to the Army Combat Organization have been employed in this exercise.

The homegrown submarine Fateh and Simorgh drone are among the main equipment being used in the exercise.