Iran Stages New Military Drills

By Staff, Agencies

The commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base – the central headquarters of Iran’s Air Defense – announced that tens of manned aircraft and drones will attack targets in an upcoming air defense military drills in the country.

Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh said at a press conference on Thursday that the operational phase of the fifth edition of the specialized drill, codenamed Defenders of Velayat Skies 1402, will kick off in a few hours.

“Units from the Army’s Air Defense, Air Force, the Islamic Revolution Guards [IRG] Aerospace Force, Navy, IRG Navy and Army Ground Force will take part in the joint war game,” he noted.

The Iranian commander further underlined that “It will be held in an integrated and fully coordinated air defense command and control network under the command of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base.”

He said the exercise will cover a vast area of the country’s southern regions from Abadan in the southwest to Chabahar in the southeast as well as national waters in the Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

During the military drills, tens of manned aircraft and tens of UAVs will target specified sensitive centers from different altitudes and the Air Defense systems will counter the aircraft commensurate with the threats.