The joint air defense exercise, codenamed ‘Guardians of Velayat Sky-99’, will begin on Wednesday, the commander of the war game said.

The drill, involving air defense units from the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), is aimed at boosting the combat preparedness and consolidate the air defense capabilities of the Armed Forces in simulated real-war conditions, General Qader Rahimzadeh said.

According to the commander, the upcoming drill will include various types of homegrown missile systems, radars, electronic warfare equipment, and communication systems countering aerial threats in low, medium and high altitudes.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force is planned to fly fighter jets, bombers and drones during the exercise, he added.

Iran’s Air Defense holds annual war games in order to enhance capabilities to defend the country’s airspace.

In 2018, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined the important role that Iran’s Air Defense plays in protecting the country, saying it is on the front line of countering enemies.

The Spokesman for the Army’s “Zolfaqar 99″ Joint Exercise said on Thursday that during the wargame, the Iranian forces have witnessed the concentrated activity of American drones to gather information from the exercise area.

“These activities were detected by the army’s signal detection systems, and the drones were warned by the air defense,” added Rear Admiral Shahram Irani.

He noted that after they understood the surveillance, reconnaissance, and defense systems of the army are prepared, the Americans were forced to take their drones out of the area, according to IFP.

Iran’s Army is conducting the joint maneuver for three days in the country’s southern waters and in international waters.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command conducted live combat exercises involving multiple units in the Taiwan Strait and around the water of the north and south ends of the strait as part of efforts to test its joint combat capabilities between different forces, Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, a spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement.

Zhang said a certain country has taken a series of actions and sent the severely wrong signals to the “separatist forces” in the Taiwan region. Such moves have seriously harmed the peace and stability of the region, he added, CGTN reported.

Taiwan is part of China, he stressed, vowing to defend China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Zhang said the drills and patrolling are necessary actions to defend national sovereignty and regional stability, and the PLA Eastern Theater Command stays vigilant and takes all necessary actions to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz are set to hold some of the US Navy’s largest exercises in recent years in the South China Sea from Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The move came after China rebuked US accusations that China’s military drill destabilizes the situation in the region on Friday.

In response to US Defense Department’s “concerns” over China’s military drills in the region, the Chinese Foreign Ministry asserted that holding military drills in the South China Sea is within the country’s sovereignty and reasonable, CGTN reported.

“Some countries outside the region often travel thousands of miles to the South China Sea to engage in large-scale military activities, and show off their power, which is the fundamental reason that affects the stability in the South China Sea,” said Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the ministry.