Iran starts production of new mobile air defence system

The Iranian Defense Ministry on Monday started mass-production of a highly mobile home-made air-defense system. The production line of the new system, Herz (Protector) 9, was inaugurated in a special ceremony attended by the country's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi on the occasion of the liberation of Khorramshahr city from Iraqi occupation during the eight-year Iraqi imposed war in the 1980s. Addressing the ceremony, Vahidi said that the system which has been designed and developed by Iranian experts at the Defense Industries Organization is a "sophisticated smart air-defense system and is capable of detecting, identifying and intercepting low-altitude targets through automatic controls". He said that the system enjoys high mobility and night operation capability and can be connected to the country's integrated air-defense network. The Iranian Armed Forces have recently test-fired different types of newly-developed missiles and torpedoes and tested a large number of its home-made weapons, tools and equipments, including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircraft, UAVs and air defense and electronic systems, during massive military drills. Defense analysts and military observers say that Iran's wargames and its advancements in weapons production have proved as a deterrent factor, specially at a time of heightened threats by the US.