Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami attended a ceremony on Monday to mark the opening of the mass production line of Iranian home-made long-range air-to-air missile.

During the event held in Tehran, the Iranian minister said “we are thankful to God Almighty for giving us the chance to see the mass production line of Fakour missile realized despite all sanctions.”

Brigadier General Hatami boasted that the missile had been designed and developed by revolutionary experts and technicians and it was test-fired in 2017.

“Many countries just import the technology but cannot improve it to make new version of the missile according to their needs. However, Iran, as a missile producer, has the ability to do so,” Brigadier General Hatami was quoted as saying in the opening ceremony.

“The enemies imagine that they can deprive Iran of its interests and resources, but ignorant of the fact that Iran will resist any bully and sanction with all its power,” he said.

“Any threat against the country will receive a proportional response,” Hatami warned, highlighting Iran’s military preparedness and defense capabilities.

According to the minister, radar-based Fakour is a state-of-the-art medium-range missile which can fight off various types of intruding jets.

The Islamic Republic of Iran established an arms, weaponry and missile development program during the eight-year-long war of Saddam against Iran in the 1980s, to counter the weapons embargo imposed on it by the US and its Western allies.

Since 1992, Iran has been manufacturing its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes. Iran also unveiled its first long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 2010.

According to the local source, the Iranian variant of the missile boasts several improvements over the original platform including a superior guidance system, enhanced range and greater speed.

The new guidance system is approximately 30% smaller, and based on the reduced weight of the more modern systems and potential for added propellants the missile’s range can be estimated to have increased by approximately 15% relative to the original AIM-54 Phoenix, allowing it to hit targets at distances of 220km.

Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in the arms sphere.