An oceangoing warship, known as mobile naval city capable of carrying helicopters and drones, joined the fleet of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy at a ceremony attended by high-ranking military officials in Southern Iran.
The domestically-developed ship, named Martyr Mahdavi, joined the IRGC Navy along with 99 new vessels in different classes after being unveiled in the Southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Thursday.
IRGC Chief Major General Hossein Salaami and Commander of the IRGC Navy Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri were among the senior military officials taking part at the ceremony, Fars News Agency (FNA) reported.
Martyr Mahdavi carrier provides the IRGC a large and floating base from which to run the small and fast boats, helicopters and various types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The ship can cruise in faraway waters and ensure the security of the Iranian trade vessels in high seas.
The oceangoing warship is 240 meters in length and 32 meters in width and weighs 14,000 tons and has a load capacity of 41,000 tons. It has been equipped with a 3-dimensional phased array radar, sea-to-sea and sea-to-air missiles, advanced communication systems for electronic warfare, and cruise missiles with a range of 700km. It is capable of carrying helicopters and drones.
Speaking at the ceremony, Rear Admiral Tangsiri said the Martyr Mahdavi warship is a heavy, multi-purpose and long-range vessel capable of carrying and operating all kinds of helicopters, drones, and high-speed missile launchers, as well as missile, defense and radar systems.
“The ship is like a mobile maritime city ready to carry out ocean missions … to create sustainable security of sea communication lines and provide aid to the commercial and fishing fleets of the Islamic Republic and regional countries,” he added.
The IRGC’s Navy has also received new domestically-designed vessels that have missile launchers mounted on them. The vessels that joined the navy fleet were upgraded versions of Ashura and Tareq classes. They can launch rockets with a range of between 100 and 180 kilometers.
The vessels enjoy high maneuverability and have been designed to be capable of carrying out missions in different weather conditions, FNA added.
“By the joining of the specialized naval equipment … and the conversion of Ashura- and Tareq-calss rocket-launching vessels into the missile-launching ones with a minimum range of 10 and maximum of more than 180 kilometers, the IRGC Navy has managed to take an important and effective step in upgrading the level of its naval combat power. It is somehow unprecedented in the world,” Tangsiri stated.
The IRGC Navy Chief also noted that the elite military force has converted rocket-launching vessels into missile-launching ones in an “unprecedented” move in the world.
Meanwhile, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri said his country has manufactured a ballistic missile which can hit moving marine targets at the speed of Mach 8 with a final range of 1,500 kilometers and capable of delivering precision strikes
He added that Iran is now capable of producing ballistic missiles destroying moving marine targets at high speeds.
“This missile has been successfully tested and its mass production has started. After production of this missile, Iran will be among the three countries possessing the know-how to make such missiles,” he stated.
In another development, the second prototype of the Iranian-developed Yasin training jet was unveiled in the presence of Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani in Tehran on Saturday.
An important feature of the advanced training jet is that it can also be used by the pilots of the operational bases to learn the tactics and techniques of air combat and air-to-surface combat.
