IRGC launches military drills near Natanz nuclear facility
The Aerospace Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched a large-scale military exercise in the central province of Isfahan.
The first stage of the exercise, codenamed Eqtedar (Authority) 1403, began on Tuesday on the periphery of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility upon the order of Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh, commander of the country’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base.
During this phase of the military exercise, air defense units of the IRGC Aerospace Force are providing a complete protection of Shahid Ahmadi Roshan nuclear site, also known as Natanz site, against a multitude of aerial threats under critical electronic warfare conditions.
The air defense units managed to intercept and destroy a projectile mirroring the features of a hostile bunker buster dropped from a warplane with the homegrown Dey-9 air defense missile system.
The homegrown air defense system could track, intercept and destroy the bunker buster in less than 15 seconds at a distance of 17 kilometers away from the nuclear site.
The air defense division of the IRGC Aerospace Force employed point-defense tactics to protect the nuclear site in Natanz by engaging with 30 aerial targets in the exercise.
The military drill came as a commander of Iran’s Armed Forces on Sunday announced the beginning of two-month drills by the country’s military across the country.
Brigadier General Ali Shadmani said for two months, Iran’s sky, lands, and seas will host the Armed Forces’ Eghtedar (Authority) Exercises.
The drills are part of the ongoing exercises of the Armed Forces and are carried out annually, but this year, some of the drills were postponed in order to maintain and enhance the readiness of the Armed Forces.
Shadmani said on the ground, elite units of the Army’s Ground Forces in the west and east of the country, special units of the ground forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the west, southwest, and south of the country, and tens of thousands of voluntary forces will do counterterrorism practices.
He added that in the sky, the Army’s Air Force and Air Defense Force, along with the IRGC Aerospace Force, will practice air defense of important centers in the country using modern equipment and at the sea, the Army’s Navy will hold exercises in the northern Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman, with the IRGC Navy focusing on the three Persian Gulf islands of Abu Musa, the Greater and Lesser Tunbs as well as the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian military forces hold routine exercises according to a detailed schedule in various parts of the country in order to test their weaponry and equipment and evaluate their combat readiness.