Iran Inaugurates Production Line of New Anti-Armor Missile System
News number: 9103085396 12:46 | 2012-07-07
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9103085396

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on
Saturday inaugurated the production line of a new home-made anti-armor
missile system named 'Dehlaviyeh'.

"The Dehlaviyeh missile is one of the most hi-tech anti-armor missiles
designed for destroying different advanced tanks which are equipped with
reactive armor," Vahidi said at the inauguration ceremony of the missile
system.

He also reiterated that the missile has been equipped with a special guiding
system (which is resistant to different types of enemy's electronic
warfare), a warhead and a missile-launcher and a portable engine-propeller.

"The missile system has been designed in a way that it can hit both fix
ground targets and mobile armored targets," Vahidi said.

Last August, the Iranian Defense Ministry started mass-production of 73-mm
anti-armor rockets capable of piercing and destroying armored vehicles from
a 1,300-meter distance.

"The weapon is mobile and due to its low weight, it can be carried by an
individual trooper," Vahidi told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony
held to launch the production line of the rocket at the time.

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 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.

The Iranian Army recently test-fired different types of newly-developed
missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of its home-made weapons,
tools and equipments, including submarines, military ships, artillery,
choppers, aircraft, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems, in a series
of massive military drills.

Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran's wargames and its
advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor,
specially at a time of heightened threats by the US.