Iran to Start Production of Smart Bombs
Pastor Dale Morgan
Iran to Start Production of Smart Bombs *
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran said that it has developed a new
900-kilogram (2,000-pound) smart bomb and that it will start
industrial-scale production of the bomb on Sunday.
The guided bomb, named Qased (Messenger), can be deployed by Iran's F-4
and F-5 fighter jets and will be officially unveiled next week, Iranian
defense ministry said.
The bomb, equipped with a smart guiding system, is produced by few
countries due to the advanced technical know-how required for its
production and Iran is the last in the chain of countries which have
succeeded in developing the technology.
Qased has been successfully tested by such fighter jets as F4 and F5.
The Iranian defense ministry also said that several other production
lines for manufacturing different military tools and arsenals would go
operational next week on the occasion of the Week of Government.
Iran launched its own arms development program during its 1980-88 war
with Iraq in response to a US-led arms embargo, and since 1992 the
country has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, and
missiles.
Earlier this month, Iran said it had started industrial-scale production
of its own fighter jet, known as Azarakhsh or Lightning. The Iranian
Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said here
today that his ministry would soon start industrial-scale production of
the second generation of the same fighter jet called Saeqeh (Thunderbolt).
Iran last year test-fired an "ultra-horizon" missile, two powerful
torpedoes and a Fajr-e Darya missile capable of avoiding radars and
hitting several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads during
extensive military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf.