TEHRAN — The indigenous air defense systems of Joshan and Khatam owned by the Army Air Defense Force have successfully shot down mock targets in the joint specialized air defense exercise codenamed "Defenders of Sky of Vellayat".

"Through the main phase of the exercise, the Joshan and Khatam air defense systems of the Army Air Defense Force destroyed hostile targets that intended to infiltrate the exercise area at low altitude," Brigadier-General Qader Rahimzadeh, commander of Iran's Joint Air Defense Base, explained on Wednesday. 
 
It was the first time that Khatam and Joshan systems were tested. The Joshan missile system is an upgraded version of the 15 Khordad system that uses passive radar.

Rahimzadeh said the Joshan missile system successfully destroyed the targets assigned by the integrated air defense network, IRNA reported.

He added Iran will not neglect strengthening defense capability as a strategy in the field of air defense.

"Accurate assessment of the perceived threats in the sky has led us to develop defense systems commensurate with threats, and today there is no threat that we have not thought of a way to deal with," he remarked.

It should be noted that the indigenous long-range radar of the Quds Pulse Array of the Air Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps was also involved in the joint specialized exercise. The radar is capable of tracking targets at a range of over 500 km and an altitude of more than 90,000 feet.

Armed Forces have acquired cutting-edge defense technology: IRGC

The IRGC chief said on Wednesday that Iran’s Armed Forces have, thanks to completely indigenous efforts, equipped themselves with the world’s top-of-the-range defensive technology.

Major General Hossein Salami was speaking during the second day of major airpower drills involving the IRGC’s Aerospace Division, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force (IRIADF).

The exercise kicked off in the country’s sprawling Central Desert, with the goal of practicing defensive maneuvers in the service of the country’s “sensitive and vital” spots and testing the operational maneuverability of the Armed Forces’ new-generation defensive equipment among other things.

Over just two days, the maneuvers saw the combined forces successfully lay into all the targets that had been designated for the purpose of the drills by the country’s Integrated Air Defense Network, using at least six state-of-the-art air defense systems, namely Mersad-16, Tabas, Khordad-3, Khordad-15, Majeed, and Dezfoul. 

“What we perceived during this exercise was a modern and advanced display of every aspect of air defense [operations] in the face of unpredictable scenarios,” Salami noted.
“By God’s grace, all the targets that entered the area [of the drills] were struck by the systems’ first shot,” General Salami stated.

“The reason for this is that the IRGC’s Aerospace Division and the Army’s Air Defense Force have acquired cutting edge technology [for its] very modern and advanced systems,” Press TV quoted him as saying.

General Salami went on to specify the message that the drills have been assigned to convoy. According to the commander, the exercises are meant to send across the “invariable message of unity” between the IRGC and Army in their duty to serve in the country’s defense.

The unity, he said, was rooted in the dual forces’ defensive cooperation during the Western-backed imposed war that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein waged on the Islamic Republic from 1980 until 1988.