Iran unveiled upgrades to 6 weapons, including a more accurate short-range missile, a more powerful naval engine and an airborne testing laboratory.
The hardware was presented at a ceremony marking Defense Industry Day and attended by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi earlier this week.
Earlier this month, Iran said it had successfully test-fired the new model, which it said was equipped with a more accurate guidance system.
“This missile is one of the most precise and advanced land-to-land ballistic missiles using solid fuel. In the last decade it has had a significant role in promoting the Islamic Republic of Iran's defense capabilities” Vahidi was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
In July, Iran said it had successfully test-fired medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel, and tested dozens of missiles aimed at simulated air bases.
It also presented a more powerful, 5,000-horsepower seaborne engine, the Bonyan-4, Fars quoted Vahidi as saying. A previous version had 1,000 horsepower, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) said.
Military experts have cast doubt on Iran's claims of weapons advances, especially its assertions about its missile program, saying it often exaggerates its capabilities.
“The Fateh-110 has a crude guidance and control system that operates during the missile's ascent rather than during final descent. It appears to lack the subsystems needed to effect terminal steering,” said Michael Elleman, Senior Fellow for Missile Defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Iran also presented Armita, an “airborne laboratory” to help test aircraft launch systems and oxygen generation and train fighter pilots, Fars reported.
It was named after the daughter of Dariush Rezaeinejad, an Iranian scientist killed last year, Vahidi said, according to ISNA.
Iran believes agents working with foreign intelligence services including the American CIA and Israel's Mossad are behind the assassinations of several of its scientists.
Source: Reuters; Fars
