Iran Strengthens Air Defense in Eastern Regions in Line with Perceived, Emerging Threats

By Staff, Agencies

The Iranian Army has significantly enhanced air defense capabilities in the country’s eastern region as means of optimizing its potential to face off the existing and evolving threats against the Islamic Republic.

The enhancements were inaugurated at the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force [IRIADF]’s Eastern Command on Wednesday, with Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard, the force’s commander, in attendance.

They featured equipment of the Eastern Command with indigenous missile, radar, and drone systems as well as an electronic warfare center.

The commander hailed the advanced technology that has been incorporated in the air defense force’s domestically-manufactured equipment and military hardware.

The technology, he said, had been obtained thanks to “round-the-clock endeavor by the IRIADF’s scientific, educational, and research centers and exchange of [related] knowhow with other relevant centers.”

Sabahifard credited the technology with “increasing the force’s new and unique operational capabilities and enhancing the combat capability of its strategic units.”

The Eastern Command was being boosted “in proportion to perceived and emerging threats,” he said, adding that improvement of the power of confrontation against various sources of threat was a serious part of the IRIADF’s agenda.

Back in June, Sabahifard commended the air defense force’s strong stewardship of the country’s airspace.

“The slightest of movements [around the Islamic Republic’s airspace] do not escape the [surveilling] eyes of the air defense force,” he said at the time.

He also noted that the IRIADF had a variety of systems at its disposal that enabled it to react to any possible threats on time, adding that the force had made great strides in specialized areas, especially in the field of developing different types of drones and radars.

The country has been relying on domestic endeavors and know-how to make significant advances in the direction of enhancing the self-sufficiency of its Armed Forces.

Heeding the directives of Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei, Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country would not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, which are entirely meant for defensive purposes and are, therefore, never subject to negotiation.