Iran’s Ground Force Starts 2nd Stage of Massive Drills

(FNA)- The Iranian Ground Force started the second stage of massive exercises in the Central province of Isfahan on Saturday after staging missile drills in the same region on Friday.

The drills codenamed 'Beit ul-Moqaddas 26' started in the presence of Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan and a number of other high-ranking Army commanders.

The Iranian Ground Force staged the first phase of the drills by firing the country's latest home-made missiles in Isfahan province's Nasrabad region near Kashan city.

Ground Force commanders said they are using the state-of-the-art ammunitions and weapons as well as the latest battle technics in the two-day drills.

The Iranian Armed Forces have recently test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of home-made weapons, tools and equipment, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircrafts, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems, during massive military drills.

Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran's wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor.

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

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

In relevant remarks in April, Pordastan said that Iran's Ground Force has test-fired new mid-range ballistic missiles.

"A series of new missiles have been designed to be built by the Army's Ground Force," Pourdastan told FNA.

"The laboratory production of these missiles has started and one or two samples have been test-fired," he added.

Pourdastan said that the new missiles have higher range and quality compared with Naze'at-10 medium-range ballistic missiles.

Noting that the Ground Force is building the missiles in cooperation with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Aerospace Force, he said that the new missiles will be unveiled and used in the form of a new class of missiles.