Iran’s Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, said that late in his life, the Shah had spent $11bn to import facilities to Iran.
“The planned doctrine was resisting Soviet influence for 3 days. All facilities were in American military councilors’ control, and Shah had had no discretion on them,” he added.
“Such was Iran’s strong dependence on US before the Revolution which brought about independence for our country, especially in the defense sector,” he asserted.
“We deemed it necessary to be independent in defense. The Ministry of War was renamed the Ministry of Defense, since our policy was a policy of cooperation and friendship, and everything were for defense only,” he added.
“Today, we stress on all-out defense, based on people’s power. In our defense policies, our major policy is that of deterrence; we do not attack others, but our policies have been implemented such that no single country would dare to invade us,” he added.
“In self-sufficiency, and all other fields as well, we have adhered to this policy, and our achievements are natively-developed. These are our defense components. We based every policy on indigenous facilities for defense and security,” Vahidi said.
“Aircraft is one of the most sophisticated human achievements. Despite long-term pressures from sanctions on Iran, now the enemy finds itself facing Iran’s launching of Omid Satellite, or Qaher fighter jet, unique in their class,” he explained.
Vahidi pointed to two stages of developing Qaher fighter jet, saying that the first stage had been finished and the second stage, i.e., the flying stage, was being implemented, and “we are applying the expert requirements.”
The Minister also said that “Iran’s unmanned fighter drones are our highest capabilities. Different classes of drones now are being manufactured with wide range of applications. Exploration drones are also in line to be manufactured, with high capability to capture high-precision images from the enemies’ strongholds.”
“Our drones have high flight endurance,” Vahidi asserted, saying that today Iran was producing 20 types of drones, with application in exploration, attack, and with high flight endurance.
“The Karrar fighter drone has been developed recently. We will unveil our latest fighter drone with launching surface-to-air missile, and it is in final production stage,” said Vahidi.
Source: MNA
