Iranian Naval Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi announced that his forces will be equipped with a new home-made destroyer, dubbed the ‘Dena’, within the next two months.
“God willing, we will witness addition of the destroyer, Dena, to the Navy in (the Iranian month of) Bahman (January 21 to 19 February),” Rear Admiral Khanzadi told reporters in a press conference held in Tehran on Wednesday to mark the national Navy Day (November 28).
He also noted that Sahand, another destroyer which joined the Navy last year, is now ready for missions in the ocean, and further expressed the hope that Taftan warship would be delivered to the Naval forces next year.
“Concurrently, we will witness the launch of a mine-clearing warship, Saba, in the Navy as well as a drone, namely Simorq, which has a flight durability of 24 hours and capability to carry different types of weapons, including bombs, rockets and projectiles.”
Elsewhere, Rear Admiral Khanzadi also revealed plans to manufacture a new class of heavy destroyers, under a project dubbed Negin, which would each weigh over 5,000 tons in a bid to bolster the country’s defense might in the naval missions.
He stressed the high level of preparedness of the Iranian Armed Forces in the face of threats, and said “The Iranian Armed Forces enjoy very high capabilities, and the US does not dare to directly confront Iran, and that is why it uses proxy agents, such as terrorist groups, to attain its goals.”
Rear Admiral Khanzadi also said that the Iranian, Chinese and Russian naval forces will soon stage joint wargames in Northern Indian Ocean.
“In the near future, we will conduct joint drills with naval forces of China and Russia in the country’s Southern waters in the vicinity of the Northern Indian Ocean,” he added.
Rear Admiral Khanzadi said that the preliminary planning for the war games was done last month and the forces are preparing to stage the drills.
“After the war games, there will be one with the naval forces of the Indian Ocean littoral states, which will be held within the framework of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), in a bid to promote convergence among the navies and achieve security in this region through collective contributions from all forces situated there,” he said.
In relevant remarks on Saturday, Rear Admiral Khanzadi had said that similar to Damavand, another Iranian destroyer, Dena, was also being equipped with vertical launching system (VLS) missile cells, adding that the two were marking a new chapter in the country’s naval combat capabilities.
“In line with directives of the Commander in Chief, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, who has called for higher level of immunity for sailing units, Iran’s Navy is devising plans for equipping its vessels with VLS missile cells,” he said.
“That’s why we are working on missiles for vertical launching systems; and it is not just limited to Damavand (destroyer). A similar project is underway in the Southern (HQ of the navy),” the commander added.
Khanzadi added that Iran will soon fire tests missiles from the VLS, highlighting that all vessels of Iran’s Navy will be equipped with the new system.
Source » farsnews