TEHRAN, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian Army on Tuesday launched large-scale joint drone drills across the country, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
The exercises involve close to 200 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the Iranian Army's four units of Ground Force, Navy, Air Force and Air Defense Force, Tasnim quoted Habibollah Sayyari, the drill's commander, as saying.
Sayyari, who is also deputy chief of the Iranian Army for coordination, added the drills are being staged in a vast area across the country, stretching from the southern waters to eastern, western, central and northern parts to improve the units' combat preparedness in real-life conditions.
The drills involve border monitoring and target detection carried out by the army's domestically-developed patrol and reconnaissance drones, including such modes as Chamrosh, Yasir, Sadeq, Pelican, Ababil, Kaman-12, Yazdan and Mohajer, he said.
The drones are being tested under difficult circumstances and pressure and assessed in terms of their capabilities in the patrolling, reconnaissance, electronic warfare and combat areas, he added.
Also on Tuesday, spokesman of the exercises Alireza Sheikh said the homegrown Kaman-19 drone was being tested first time in the wargame, performing radar jamming and deception as well as electronic warfare missions successfully. ■
