Iran’s wargames enter new stage

Islamic Republic Air Force and IRGC have conducted another phase of a joint defensive exercise in preparation for a potential attack.

Dozens of fighter jets, surveillance planes, interceptor aircraft, and radar drones took part in the exercise, a statement released by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said on Wednesday.

The statement added that part of the maneuver involved testing a surveillance network equipped with state-of-the-art systems for identifying enemy aircraft and notifying command.

(Article continues below)

The IRGC also said that safe communication gear, upgraded missile and anti-aircraft systems, and domestically produced anti-electronic equipment had also been tested during the exercise.

The IRGC and the Islamic Republic Air Force launched the first stage of the maneuver, dubbed Asemane Velayat, on Monday amid growing speculation of a possible Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed an earlier report that indicated that it was planning to sell Israel 1,000 ‘bunker-busting’ bombs worth over 77 million dollars. The Guided Bomb Unit-39 (GBU-39) is made up of smart bombs, which have been developed to target underground fortified facilities.

According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the small size of GBU-39, which has been designed to enable jet fighters to carry more bombs in place of a single one-ton bomb, will allow the Israeli Air Force to hit more of Iran’s ‘numerous, distant, and fortified’ nuclear sites than currently possible.