Iran’s Naval Copters Drop Torpedoes in Drill
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Navy’s choppers annihilated mobile underwater targets by dropping an optimized version of homegrown torpedoes during a naval war game underway in the country’s southeastern waters.
During the second day of the main stage of a large-scale naval exercise on Thursday, the Iranian Navy’s SH-3D helicopters fired optimized torpedoes and successfully destroyed the hypothetical enemy’s submarines.
Code-named “Velayat 94”, the drills cover an area of around 3 million square kilometers, stretching from east of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to the northern parts of the Indian Ocean, known as the 10-degrees latitude.
General Mousavi, spokesman for the drill, said the torpedoes had been already tested, but it was the first time that they were fired as part of tactical exercises in a military drill.
Referring to other military practices in the drill, the commander pointed to naval minesweeping exercises by the country’s RH helicopters around the Strait of Hormuz to ensure safe passage for trade vessels and oil tankers.
Meanwhile, the Navy flew a number of patrol and reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) over the war game’s zone.
The drones successfully detected the hypothetical enemy’s watercraft and took images.
On Wednesday, various homegrown vessels including speedboats and Tareq-class heavy submarine, as well as airborne units were stationed in the zone as part of exercises to prevent the hypothetical enemy from entering the country’s territorial waters.
Iranian forces engaged in the war game also shooed away a US warship and a fighter jet that had been approaching the drill zone yesterday.
Naval drills are not rare in Iran’s southern waters, in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman and around the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Navy usually unveils a series of latest military equipment in its drills.
