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| Iran's Military Strength Respected by Other Countries |
International Military - Due to international sanctions, Iran's military industry has had to struggle to develop itself. Thanks to that, Iran has become a major drone supplier in recent years. The leaders there freely send their drones to broad groups. Especially those who are pro-Iran in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. It was even reported that the drones attacked US and allied military bases.
In addition to military infrastructure, they are also targeting civilian areas such as oil refineries. And as is well known, Iran is assisting Russia with hundreds of stealth drones. These two countries have in fact been trading partners for a long time. And occasionally allied in military movements over the years.
Quoted from The Guardian, Iran's arms exports to Russia have indeed increased since its war with Ukraine. Although indeed, Iran's military muscle is not as big as Russia's, but their drones still need to be taken into account. Iranian drones have been tested extensively in Syria and Iraq.
Due to an assessment from Military Watch Magazine, Iran is one of the countries that has experience operating stealth drones. So far, only two countries have such capabilities, namely the US and China. Iran's drone development progress began in the early 2010s. Considering they stole the US RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone in 2011. Instead of stealing it, they managed to launch an electronic attack on the drone.
And at that time, the RQ-170 was the most stealth drone in the world. And after that, Iran built its own drone, the Shahed 171 which was inspired by the RQ-170. The Shahed 171 itself was used in February 2018, where it proved to be able to withstand the most powerful air defenses on Israeli territory.
The drone managed to evade a US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile attack. Israel was only able to neutralize the drone at close range, because the stealth capabilities of the drone were not so good.
A former Israeli politician, Danny Yatom spoke about the incident. “It was a sophisticated operation, the Shahed 171 almost resembled a US drone. even Israel itself cannot identify it as an Iranian-made drone,” he said.
While there is the Shahed 181 and the Shahed 191 which are Iran's newest stealth drones. Apart from drones, Iran is also reportedly building the latest generation of warships.
Quoted from Defense View, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy released a video clip of a new catamaran missile patrol boat named Soleimani Martyr with hull number FS-313-01.
Soleimani's name was taken from the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Brigade. He was killed by a CIA drone near Baghdad Airport in 2020. And the commander's death worsened Iran-US relations.
Back to Iran's newest ship, citing USNI, Iran is indeed building a new catamaran missile ship. It was built at the Abbas Naval Shipyard. But the configuration as well as the overall specifications of the ship have been kept secret until now.
It is said, Soleimani Martyr is the largest and most powerful warship that Iran has. Seen from the outside, the new ship is 65 meters long, with an airstrip for helicopters. The 600-ton ship can reach speeds of over 30 knots.
For armament, Soleimani Martyr is equipped with one 30mm cannon and two 12.7mm heavy machine guns in the bow of the ship. Then there are a total of six anti-ship missile launch boxes on either side of the bridge cabin. And the missile launchers are of different sizes, the larger four being anti-ship missiles with a range of 300 kilometers. And the rest are smaller ones with two short-range anti-ship missiles with a range of 90 kilometers.
Even more unique, Iran's newest ship has a vertical launcher system. Iran claims its ships are also equipped with short and medium-range air-to-air missiles. Although until now, has not revealed the type of missile. But some believe, the missile that will be used is taken from the Hunter-2 surface-to-air missile.
The Hunter-2 is a clone of the SM-1 surface-to-air missile and the US-made Buk surface-to-air missile. The Hunter-2 is the most mature medium-range semi-active radar-guided missile in Iran. But something is missing, Iran's new ship lacks long-range air-to-air missiles. Because they themselves have not been able to develop a radar terminal guidance system.
Radar commonly used for long-range missiles. In fact, the use of medium and long-range missiles on a warship is a must. And while the limited specs of this ship are great, it's still a mystery as a whole. It is believed, the Soleimani Martyr ship will be a milestone in Iran's efforts to independently build warships.