“Modafean Aseman Velayat 1400”: Iranian Armed Forces Smash Medium-altitude Targets in Major Drills

By Staff, Agencies

The first day of major airpower drills by the various branches of Iran’s Armed Forces saw them successfully laying into medium-altitude targets using completely indigenous military hardware.

Dubbed ‘Modafean Aseman Velayat 1400’ [Guardians of ‘Velayat Sky’ 1400], the exercise kicked off in the Islamic Republic’s sprawling Central Desert on Tuesday, with the goal of practicing defensive maneuvers in the service of the country’s “sensitive and vital” spots and testing the operational maneuverability of the Armed Forces’ new-generation defensive equipment among other things.

The drills have so far recruited the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force [IRIAF] and Air Defense Force [IRIADF] as well as the Islamic Revolution Guard [IRG]’s Aerospace Division.

Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh, commander of the country’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, specified the air defense systems deployed during the first day as the domestically-manufactured Mersad-16, Tabas, Khordad-3, and Khordad-15.

The medium-altitude targets that were smashed through using the equipment had been assigned for the special purpose of the drills by the country’s Integrated Air Defense Network, Rahimzadeh added.

The commander said the application of the domestically-built equipment during the event served, on the one hand, as “the biggest indication of neutralization and ineffectuality of the global arrogance’s sanctions in the military sector,” and reflected the Islamic Republic’s “power and capability in the area of air defense” on the other.

The Army and the IRG also practiced electronic warfare and cyber defense by testing their prowess in the respective areas against invasive maneuvers, Rahimzadeh noted.