Iran’s IRGC Displays Wide Stride in Cruise Missile Technology

(FNA)- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) displayed a newly developed cruise missile deemed as a major boost in Iran's cruise capability.

The new missile production, Ya Ali (AS), was displayed during the Supreme Leader's tour of an exhibition of the IRGC Aerospace Force's latest achievements.

Military experts said the new product can hit targets 700km in distance that is more than two times the distance that the best Iranian cruise missiles could fly.

Before Ya Ali, the maximum range of Iran's cruise missiles was no more than 300km.

Qader is one of the latest Iranian cruise missiles designed and developed by the Iranian defense industries. Qader is land, sea and air-based. The Iranian Air Force fighter jets successfully test-fired the long-range Qader cruise missiles during the aerial drills in Southern Iran in late December, 2013.

“These missiles can be mounted on different fighter jets and were successfully test-fired in these wargames,” Spokesman of Fadaeeyan-e Harim-e Vellayat IV Wargames Brigadier General Hossein Chitforoush told FNA in December.

The lead pilot said Qader air-based missile with a range of over 200 kilometers can be used by the Iranian Air Force in future battles.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defense systems.

The country has repeatedly made it clear that its military might is merely based on the state's defense doctrine of deterrence and that it poses no threat to other countries.

Iran has taken wide strides in optimizing its missile technology.