Domestically manufactured hovercraft conduct operation during war games

TEHRAN,Dec.31(MNA) – Domestically manufactured hovercraft successfully carried out an operation during the Velayat-91 naval exercise, the spokesperson for the war games told reporters on Sunday. On the third day of the maneuvers, the hovercraft transported troops and equipment and took part in an operation of Iranian forces to defend the country’s coasts against invading mock enemy forces, Rear Admiral Amir Rastgari said. During a ceremony held in Tehran on November 12, Iran unveiled a new hovercraft, named the Tondar (Thunder), which has been designed and manufactured by experts at the Iranian Defense Ministry. The Tondar hovercraft, which has been equipped with special systems of gathering information, can be used to patrol the country’s coastal waters, carry out medium-range reconnaissance missions on land and sea, conduct defensive asymmetric operations, and transport troops and equipment. The ability to pass through difficult flat terrains such as swampy, boggy, and sandy regions is one of the significant features of the hovercraft. Various types of domestically designed weapons and guns such as rocket launchers and cannons can be installed on the hovercraft. Rastgari also said that upgraded weapons, including surface-to-air and surface-to-sea missiles and torpedoes, with enhanced precision and destructive power will be tested in the next days. In another operation on Sunday, Iranian special forces detected the coastal areas penetrated by mock enemy forces and targeted them from land, air, and sea. Naval helicopters also carried out a heliborne operation and transported troops and pieces of military hardware across the theater of operation. Divers jumped out of the helicopters and attached mines to mock enemy vessels and detonated them. In addition, the Navy’s artillery units fired shells at a mock enemy warship and destroyed it. At the end of the tactical stage of the war games, the Navy’s cyber defense group identified and repelled a cyber attack carried out by enemy hackers to damage the Navy’s computer systems. Iran started on Friday the Velayat-91 naval exercise in an area covering about one million square kilometers from the east side of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman to the northern Indian Ocean. The six-day maneuvers is being conducted in international waters and the country’s territorial waters with the participation of various units of the Iranian Navy, including submarines, warships, destroyers, missile systems, and special forces. The commander of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, said on December 25 that the drills would be held to test the country’s new defense and missile systems, combat vessels, submarines, drones, and torpedoes, and provide naval forces with the opportunity to perform combat and reconnaissance missions, repel mock attacks, and practice countering electronic warfare measures.