Iran Army's drone power can respond to any threats from enemies: Top commander

A senior Iranian Army commander says the country’s drone power has advanced to a level that can counter any threats posed by the enemies.

Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, the deputy chief of the Iranian Army for Coordination, made the remarks on Monday ahead of a large-scale joint exercise involving drones from Iranian Army’s four units of Ground Force, Navy, Air Force and Air Defense Force across large parts of central and southern Iran.

Sayyari, who is also the commander of the joint drone exercise, said the drill would be conducted in more than half of Iran’s geography and in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, stressing that part of the drone power of the Army’s four units will be evaluated in the large-scale war game.

“We use reconnaissance, combat, kamikaze drones and drones that can carry missiles, bombs and electronic warfare equipment [in the joint drill]. Our goal is to evaluate the precision of our drones, the skills of our pilots and the power of our shots,” the Iranian commander said.

Stressing that one of the main goals of the exercise is to improve the country's drone capability to deal with potential threats, Sayyari said testing of all domestically-manufactured drones, evaluation of ammunition, the magnitude of fire and explosion as well as exchange of experience are among the other goals of the drill.

Iran’s Air Defense Force ‘absolute power’ in region: Top commander

The commander of the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force has underlined the unit’s military capabilities as an irrefutable fact, saying his forces are an “absolute power” in the West Asia region.

The deputy chief of the Iranian Army for Coordination said the type of battles has changed in recent years and drones have a very high place in modern battles.

Underlining that production of drones has made sharp progress over the past years, he said Iran, by using the expertise of its youth in knowledge-based companies and the Army, has put the production of all kinds of drones on the agenda and managed to achieve valuable results.

“Our drone power is very high and we can count on it and it will bring us success in any operation,” Sayyari said, adding, “The drone power of the country’s Army and Armed Forces is among the top drone powers in the region. The combat power of our country's Armed Forces has reached a position that can respond to any threats on land, sea and air by using the drone power.”

Last month, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces said demand for the purchase of Iran’s homegrown sophisticated drones is much greater than the country’s production, stressing that Iran has turned into a “big drone power” that is outperforming major world powers.

Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient.

Iranian officials have made clear that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran’s defense capabilities will be never open for negotiations.

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