Article Posted on : - Jun 27, 2011

Iran equipped its its elite Revolutionary Guards with a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the Qiam-1, in May this year. A file photo

TEHRAN (BNS): Iran will launch a massive military exercise involving firing of different types of missiles starting from Monday.

The country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will hold the war games “to assess and upgrade the readiness of its armed forces against possible foreign aggression,” the Press TV reported.

During the missile maneouver, dubbed “Great Prophet IV”, short-, medium- and long-range missiles would be fired.

The missiles include the Khalij Fars (Persian Gulf), Sejjil (Baked Clay), Fateh (Conqueror), Qiam (Rising), Shahab-1 and Shahab-2, Commander of the Aerospace Division of the IRGC, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

The military drills will be conducted both at sea and land.

“Measuring the degree of preparedness of IRGC's military units, exercising new tactics, presence of young soldiers alongside experienced personnel of IRGC and extensive usage of advanced equipment are among other objectives of Great Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) war games,” the official said.

“We will also unveil the modern missile launching sites which are used in different parts of Iran,” he added, without specifying how long the exercise would continue.

Iran claims to possess a wide range of missiles, some developed indigenously. In May this year, it had equipped its elite Revolutionary Guards with a new surface-to-surface ballistic missile, the Qiam-1.