TEHRAN (FNA) - A senior Iranian commander announced here on Tuesday that the country's Army plans to design and manufacture Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that can be controlled from submarines.

""Today the world is seeking UAVs that can be controlled from submarines, from sub-surface and from vessels' deck. And we, too, are mulling over such fields of activity as they can be achieved,"" Head of the Iranian Army's Self-Sufficiency Jihad and Industrial Researches (department) Admiral Mohammad Sadri said in an exclusive interview with FNA on Tuesday.
The commander said that Iran has already used the domestically built UAVs in sea missions to check its newly developed weapon systems and also for targeting purposes.
Pointing to the unique radar-evading capability of Iran-made UAVs and their small sizes, Sadri said Army's research and development centers are serious in the field.
""Thanks God, good work has been done in area of UAV production in (the Army's) ground and air divisions,"" Sadri noted.
Last week, Lieutenant Commander of Iran's Air Force Mohsen Darrebaqi told FNA that the Iranian Air Force plans to form a battalion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in all its bases across the country.
""In every Air Force fighters base, a UAV battalion will be formed,"" Darrwbaqi said, adding, ""These UAV battalions have already been formed in four bases.""
Noting that the UAV units of the Air Force have been operative for as long as many years, Darrebaqi pointed out that these units are currently tasked with intelligence and information gathering and reconnaissance missions.
""But in future we want to use them for assault missions so that these UAVs can hit targets,"" he added.
Iran has recently made good progress in the air industry and has succeeded in gaining the technical know-how for producing stealth aircraft and drones.
The country in February inaugurated the production line of two home-made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with bombing and reconnaissance capabilities.
The two hi-tech drones named 'Ra'd' (Thunder) and 'Nazir' (Harbinger) are capable of conducting long-range reconnaissance, patrolling, assault and bombing missions with high precision.
Ra'd which is a UAV of choice for assault and bombing missions has the capability to destroy the specified targets with high pinpoint precision.
Experts believe that once the UAV enters the scene of aerial missions, it would enhance the reconnaissance, patrolling and defensive power of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Armed Force.
Iran successfully tested a home-made radar-evading UAV with bombing capabilities last June. Also in 2008, the country's Defense Industries launched production lines of two well-known home-made fighter jets, namely Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) and Azarakhsh (Lightening).
Iran had earlier started construction of a plant in the northern province of Mazandaran in 2008 to mass produce UAVs for different civilian and military missions.