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2 February 2015 - 14:25

Iran on Monday unveiled two indigenized hovercrafts in its Northern territorial waters in the Caspian Sea.

The two hovercrafts were unveiled in a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979) at the Naval base of Bandar Anzali port city in the Northern province of Gilan.

On December 1, an SRN6 hovercraft was delivered to the Iranian Navy in a ceremony in the Southern coasts of the country.

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, vessels and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

Iran in June 2013 launched its overhauled and modernized destroyer named Bayandor in the Southern waters of the country in the presence of Iranian Army Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi and Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari.

Army officials said the Iranian Navy's power of safeguarding the country's territorial waters as well as maintaining security in regional and international waters will increase after the launch of Bayandor.

Overhauling the main engines, heat exchangers and fuel and oil systems as well as optimizing the monitoring control systems are among the measures adopted before launching the destroyer.

Navy experts have also mounted a fire control system for the destroyer's weapons, a 76-mm and a 40-mm canons and a surface-to-surface Nour (Light) missile system on the destroyer.

In May 2013, Sayyari had declared that Iran could use the destroyer to carry out missions in international waters in the future.

He said the destroyer is fitted with state-of-the-art equipment such as missile, torpedo, artillery, sonar and other information and communication systems.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

Iran's first home-made destroyer, Jamaran, was launched in late February 2010. The Mowdge Class vessel has a displacement of around 14,000 tons and is equipped with modern radars and electronic warfare capabilities and is armed with a variety of anti-ship, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.
 

News ID 187560