Iran tripled arms exports since March 2022: Tehran

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Iran's arms exports tripled between March and December 2022, Iranian Deputy Defense Minister Seyyed Mehdi Farahi said on Wednesday.

"The export of our defense products is gradually developing. This year (1401 on the Iranian calendar) it has tripled compared with last year," Farahi was quoted by the Iranian news agency IRNA as saying. The Iranian year began on March 21, 2022, and will end on March 20, 2023.

Iran began bolstering its military-industrial complex ten years ago, which reflected on the present in a notable increase in the share of domestic military equipment in exercises, Farahi explained.

In 2022, Iran's share increased by a stark 10%, meaning 93% of military equipment used in drills is made at home, the defense official revealed.

With Iran being forced into contending with numerous foreign adversaries, the Islamic Republic's defense industry should be under the government's control rather than under that of private firms or parties, the Iranian general concluded.

The defense system being state-run has reaped many benefits for Iran, with the country developing its first national hypersonic ballistic missile in November 2022.

"This new missile will pass all missile defense verification systems, and I don't think there will be technologies capable of resisting it for decades," the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, revealed.

The military official stressed that the new missile is a solution for the destruction of the enemy's anti-missile systems. The development of such weapons poses a big leap in the country's missile production, according to the commander.

This came after Iran revealed a new missile, named Sayyad 4B, which is conformant with Iran’s homegrown air defense system Bavar-373 and has a range of 300 kilometers.

With specifications such as its optimized radar and an engine that runs on hybrid solid fuel, a recent test run proved the air defense system's ability to locate the target at a range of more than 450 km and to track it at a distance of around 405 km before detonating it with the new Sayyad 4B.

The range of the detection radar of Bavar 373 increased from 350 to 450 km, whereas its tracking range has risen from 260 to 400 km. The Bavar-373 was first unveiled in August 2019. Iran's long-range air defense system is capable of detecting up to 100 targets, tracking 60, and engaging with six at the same time.

Through Sayyad 4B, the air defense system missiles can be extended up to 300 km alongside an increase in altitude of engagement from 27 to 32 km.

Iran stands its ground that no threat is posed by its military to regional countries, emphasizing that its defense doctrine is founded on deterrence.

Additionally, Iran making strides in the defense sector has led to it becoming renowned on the international stage, exporting arms, namely drones, to behemoths such as Russia, and establishing a drone plant in Tajikistan.

Moreover, the commander of the Iranian Air Force, Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi, announced months ago that Iran had achieved full self-sufficiency in supplying its air forces with combat unmanned aerial vehicles.

“We have achieved 100% self-sufficiency in the field of unmanned aircraft, but we must not stop in these efforts," the IRNA news agency quoted Vahedi as saying in September.

The commander also noted that Iran has become the leading state in the Middle East in the field of combat drones.

On September 1, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US Navy, along with "Israel," Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries, are working to establish a network of UAVs to limit Iran's military in the region; a program that the Pentagon hopes will serve as a model for operations around the world.