Iran Unveils New Weapons Ahead of Nat'l Army Day

Army Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan unveiled the homegrown products in a ceremony three days ahead of Iran's National Army Day.

The five new products include an armed robot, a wheeled tank, two sniper rifles and a tactical military vehicle.

The remote-controlled robot is equipped with four-wheel drive system and can be programmed for reconnaissance and combat missions within an operational range of 2 kilometers.

Capable of carrying loads up to 600 kg, the robot can be armed with machine guns, air-defense or anti-armor missiles.

The wheeled tank, dubbed Aqareb, has a 90 mm caliber main gun and a 12.7 mm machine gun. Equipped with the latest generation of fire control systems, it has 8 drive wheels and four crew.

Also unveiled was a 23 mm caliber sniper rifle that can hit targets within a range of 4 kilometers with anti-armor bullets. "Baher" weighs 62 kg and requires 3 crew for firing.

The other sniper rifle was a modified version of "Shaher" that is equipped with a 5-round magazine.

And the last product was a 4-ton Ultra Light Vehicle (ULV) capable of traveling with a speed of 100 km/h in difficult terrains and 130 km/h on gravel roads. It can be armed with an automatic machine gun and employed in the reconnaissance and combat operations.

The 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.

Iran has made it clear that its military might poses no threat to the regional countries, saying that the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine is entirely based on deterrence.