Eurasia Press & News
Iran said that it has developed a new 900-kilogram (2,000-pound) smart bomb and that it will start industrial-scale production of the bomb on Sunday. The guided bomb, named Qased (Messenger), can be deployed by Iran’s F-4 and F-5 fighter jets and will be officially unveiled next week, Iranian defense ministry said.
The bomb, equipped with a smart guiding system, is produced by few countries due to the advanced technical know-how required for its production and Iran is the last in the chain of countries which have succeeded in developing the technology.
Qased has been successfully tested by such fighter jets as F4 and F5.
The Iranian defense ministry also said that several other production lines for manufacturing different military tools and arsenals would go operational next week on the occasion of the Week of Government.
Iran launched its own arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq in response to a US-led arms embargo, and since 1992 the country has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, and missiles.
Earlier this month, Iran said it had started industrial-scale production of its own fighter jet, known as Azarakhsh or Lightning. The Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said here today that his ministry would soon start industrial-scale production of the second generation of the same fighter jet called Saeqeh (Thunderbolt).
Iran last year test-fired an “ultra-horizon” missile, two powerful torpedoes and a Fajr-e Darya missile capable of avoiding radars and hitting several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads during extensive military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf.
