Iran’s Army Flies Homegrown Warplane in Parade
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Air Force flew the country’s first domestically-made fighter jet, Kowsar, during a military parade marking the National Army Day.
In a ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on Thursday, Kowsar performed an aerial show at the beginning of a military parade in celebration of the Army Day.
The advanced Iranian fighter jet is capable of carrying various weapons and is used for short aerial support missions.
One of the major weapons put on display during the parade was the S-300 anti-missile air defense system.
Other items displayed in the parade included various types of command and control systems, radars, missiles and launchers, tanks, armored vehicles, rifles, pilotless aircraft, artillery gear and ground combat weapons.
Elsewhere in Iran, off the southern coasts in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, the Navy’s warships and destroyers attended a maritime parade to mark the Army Day.
National Army Day was included in the Iranian calendar after a historic letter from late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini in April 1979, in which he voiced strong support for the Army and ordered Army troops to hold massive parades across the country on April 18 every year to express their combat readiness.
The historic decision by Imam Khomeini came after a hostile propaganda for undermining the Army after its successful missions in quelling riots and separatist moves in Turkman Sahra in northeast, Kurdistan in west, and West Azerbaijan in northwest of Iran.