The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force fired a series of ballistic missiles from launchers “hidden in camouflage deep underground,” on Wednesday as part of this week’s war games, Sepah News reported. This is the first time Iran has fired its ballistic missiles from underground launchers.
The Payambar-e Azam 14 (The Great Prophet) war games are taking place most of the week in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan, western parts of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Persian Gulf, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The IRGC Aerospace Force used Sukhoi-22 fighter jets to destroy targets on Farur Island with “winged bombs” which were also described as “smart bombs.”
According to the report, the forces also practiced a “missile combat operation” by firing Hormuz and Fateh ground-to-ground missiles and a ballistic missile, in addition to having air defense units hit aerial targets. A range of homegrown drones, including Shahed-181, Mohajer, and Bavar, launched a strike on target, while various types of sea-to-sea and coast-to-sea missiles were fired as well.
As part of the war games, IRGC forces practiced tactics to incapacitate the US THAAD missile defense system (Theater High Altitude Area Defense) by mirroring the capabilities of the system and then targeting it with radar-evading missiles.
IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said the combat drones of the force have also destroyed targets from a far distance with great accuracy, including the command bridge of the replica of a US aircraft carrier.
“With the facilities in our possession, we can hit any hostile target at any location in the Persian Gulf region, the Sea of Oman, and the Indian Ocean,” he said, according to Tasnim.
On Wednesday morning, the IRGC fired a series of ballistic missiles from launch pads hidden in camouflage deep under the ground.
Satellite images taken by Iran’s domestically-built ‘Noor’ (light) satellite, launched into space in April, are being used to evaluate the situation as it takes place in the war games.