Iran to unveil domestically designed minesweeper

The Iranian Navy is building a new domestically designed minesweeper and equipping one of its destroyers with advanced systems, the commander of the Navy announced on Thursday. 

 

Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that the minesweeper would be able to quickly clear enemy mines which would possibly be laid in the entrances of the country’s ports. 

 

Elsewhere in his remarks, the admiral said that the Navy planned to stage a major naval exercise, entitled Velayat-92, in the current Iranian calendar year, which stated on March 21. 

 

From December 28, 2012 to January 2, Iran held the Velayat-91 naval exercise in an area covering about one million square kilometers from the east side of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman to the northern Indian Ocean.   

 

The six-day maneuvers were conducted in international waters and the country’s territorial waters with the participation of various units of the Iranian Navy. 

 

The war games were held to test the country’s new defense and missile systems, combat vessels, submarines, drones, and torpedoes, and provide naval forces with the opportunity to perform combat and reconnaissance missions, repel mock attacks, and practice countering electronic warfare measures.