The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force used an advanced homegrown tank, Karrar, for the first time on the third day of massive joint military exercises in the Southern parts of Iran.

Karrar, an upgraded version of the T-72m tanks, came into service during the Great Prophet 17 joint drills on the country’s Southern coasts, Fars News Agency (FNA) reported.

The new tank is furnished with special coatings to withstand heatwaves and can hide from heat-seeking missiles. It is also equipped with GPS navigation systems.

The Great Prophet 17 drills kicked took place from 20 to 24 December, covering the coastlines of the southern Iranian provinces of Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan.

The IRGC Ground Force’s special units practiced their defensive skills in Lark Island.

IRGC Commander Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, also the spokesman of the exercises, said that the drills were held for five days on the shores of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the general area of Hormozgan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan provinces with participation of the IRGC ground, naval and air force units, as well as some units of the Basij (volunteer) forces.

On Friday, the IRGC successfully fired some 16 ballistic missiles at the final stage of the Great Prophet 17 Joint Drills, FARS added.

The IRGC Aerospace Force fired 16 ballistic missiles comprising long-range, medium-range and short-range missiles.

The IRGC forces simultaneously fired the ballistic missiles in different classes which destroyed set targets.

Missiles codenamed Emad, Qadr, Sejil, Zelzal, Dezful and Zolfaqar were fired to attack assimilated positions of mock enemies, which destroyed the targets with 100 percent precision.

Concurrent with the firing of the ballistic missiles, 10 drones of the IRGC Aerospace Force targeted set goals.

Enhancing capabilities of solid-propellant rocket to trespass enemies’ anti-missile shields, as well as simultaneously firing missiles and upgrading combat readiness, have been among the special characteristics of the final stage of the Great Prophet 17 joint drills.

In a relevant development on Friday, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri said that the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Great Prophet 17 military drills were held in response to the Israeli threats. He added that the military maneuver just showed a small part of the Islamic Republic's missile capability.

For his part, the spokesman for drills Brigadier General Nilforoushan said that the IRGC forces practiced infiltrating in the enemy’s air defense shield with the offensive electronic warfare.

“The IRGC Cyber-Electronic Organization succeeded in suppressing the hypothetical enemy air defense shield by conducting offensive electronic warfare operations against the enemy's defense systems, in order to provide space for the invasion and entry of its own birds into the enemy’s sky,” he explained.

Nilforoushan added that different types of war (soft, semi-hard and hard) were practiced by the IRGC forces in the maneuvers.