Iran fires sonar-evading, world's fastest underwater missile
IRAN: Iran has test-fired a sonar-evading underwater missile that can
outpace any enemy warship, a senior naval commander told state
television during a week of war games in the Gulf.
Western nations have been watching developments in Iran's missile
capabilities with concern amid a standoff over the Iranian nuclear
programme, which the West says is aimed at building atomic bombs. Iran
says the programme is only civilian.
Analysts say the United States could take military action against
Iran if it fails to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomatic
means. Iranian commanders say their armed forces are ready to respond to
any attack.
Iran earlier in the war games said it tested a radar-evading missile
and Sunday's announcement is likely to add to Western worries. Iran has
a commanding position over the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the
Gulf, a shipping route through which passes some two-fifths of all the
oil traded in the world.
"This missile evades sonar technology under the water and even if the
enemy sonar system could detect its movement under the water, no warship
could escape from it because of its high velocity," Revolutionary Guards
Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said.
"The Islamic Republic is now among the the only two countries who
hold this kind of missile. Under the water the maximum speed that a
missile could (usually) move is 25 metres per second, but now we possess
a missile which goes as fast as 100 metres per second," he told state
television.
The commander used the word "missile" in Farsi, rather than
"torpedo".
"The boats that can launch this missile have a technology that makes
them stealthy and nobody could recognise them or act against them," he
added.
State television had earlier described the missile as the world's
fastest. It also showed images of the weapon being fired from what
appeared to be the deck of a ship, followed by the weapon travelling at
speed through water.
"It carries a very powerful warhead that enables it to operate
against groups of warships and big submarines," Fadavi said. The test
was part of a week of Iranian naval manoeuvres that started on Friday
and taking place in the Gulf and Sea of Oman. The official IRNA news
agency said the manoeuvres were to show Iran's "defensive capabilities".
Iranian state television said that missile was called the Fajr-3. But
Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards air force, did not name
the new weapon or give the missile's range, saying it depended on the
warhead weight.
The U.S.-based military affairs Web site globalsecurity.org describes
the Fajr-3 as a 240 mm artillery rocket with a 25-mile (40-km) range,
one of a group of light rockets Iran has developed mainly for tactical
use on the battlefield.
However, it also says Iran has been working on another missile,
called the Kosar, that would be undetectable by radar and designed to
sink ships in the Gulf.
Diplomats in Europe said this month that Iran was stepping up
development of other missiles capable of carrying atomic warheads. An
Iranian official denied the charge. Tehran, Monday, Reuters |