Iran marks Sacred Defense Week with massive military parades
Iran marks Sacred Defense Week with massive military parades
Iranian Armed Forces are staging massive parades in Tehran and 30 other cities across the country on the first day of the annual Sacred Defense Week, which marks the 39th anniversary of the 1980s Iraqi-imposed war on Iran.

The parades, which began in Tehran and 30 other cities across the country on Sunday morning, feature military units from various divisions of the Armed Forces, including the Army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as well as the Police Force.

The parades in Tehran are being held before President Hassan Rouhani and military top brass, including Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, Chief Commander of IRGC Major General Hossein Salami, and Army commander Major General Seyyed Abdolrahim.

IRGC is in charge of staging the parades in Tehran and capitals of other provinces, while the Army is in charge of the parades in Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

According to the announcement by military commanders, the Tehran parades will include, in addition to infantry units march, the showcasing of a number of military equipment and aerial maneuvers by military planes and helicopters.

The homegrown Kosar fighter jet will also take part at the parades toady, according to commander of Army Air Force  Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh.

The newly-developed twin-engine military fighter made its airshow debut over Tehran back in April. Kosar, equipped with the fourth generation of avionics systems, is capable of carrying various weapons and is used for short aerial support missions.

The domestically-built air defense missile system ‘Bavar-373’ was also showcased during the parades in Tehran. Bavar-373 is a mobile surface-to-air missile system. It uses a long-range, phased-array fire control radar, dubbed Meraj 4, which can detect 300 air targets simultaneously.

  • source : Mehrnews