Iran Army receives optimized main battle tank for defense rapid reaction

The Iranian Army has taken delivery of an optimized main battle tank after deploying advanced technology towards enhancing the vehicle’s entire combat features.

Optimized M60 tanks joined the force during a ceremony on Sunday, with Commander of the Army’s Ground Force Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari in attendance.

“The M60 tank is on par with the world’s state-of-the-art tanks in the areas of armored protection and armored capability,” he said, noting that the vehicles had been “optimized in line with cutting-edge technology.”

The commander said the optimization process had enhanced the vehicle’s entire 13-strong features, including reactive armor, daytime and nighttime maneuverability, optical sights that provide its operators with all-encompassing field vision, formidable cannons, and engines that had rendered the tanks into highly-maneuverable vehicles.

He, meanwhile, said the vehicles could enter the mass-production stage in the future if need be.

Heydari praised the country’s Martyr Zarharan Production, Optimization, and Renovation Center, where the vehicles had undergone their enhancement process.

The facility, he said, had increased the Ground Force’s moblization capacity to the level that it had now become capable of “powerful and speedy” transfer of its various armored units throughout military drills and on other necessary occasions.

Citing some other contributions that had been made by the center to the force, Heydari enumerated its optimization of Chieftain tanks and BMP-1 armored personnel carriers as well as its smartization of the force’s artillery systems.

The commander said the Ground Force had, in line with a directive issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, engaged in effecting “profound changes in the identity and quality of its [various] units.”

“The Ground Force has [thus] turned into a mobile offensive and rapid reaction force,” he said.

Heeding Ayatollah Khamenei’s directives, Iranian officials have repeatedly underscored that the country would not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, which are entirely meant for defensive purposes and are, therefore, never subject to negotiation.

Iran will 'resolutely' continue to boost defense, deterrence power: Defense minister

Iran’s new defense minister says the country will resolutely continue to promote its defense and deterrence power.

Also on Sunday, the commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force, another branch of the Army, said the country’s enemies were well aware that its combat capability had been considerably enhanced compared to the previous years.

Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard considered the Islamic Republic’s current defensive systems to be incomparable in quality to its past equipment as well as being in a “more modern and advanced” state than the most sophisticated equipment across the world.

Iran’s ‘formidable blow’ awaits enemies’ miscalculations: Air Defense Force cmdr.

The commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force vows that the force will deal with enemies’ potential miscalculations with utmost decisiveness.

He, accordingly, vowed that the force would deal with enemies’ potential miscalculations with utmost decisiveness.

Relying on domestic endeavor and know-how, the Islamic Republic has made significant advances in enhancing the self-sufficiency of its Armed Forces, despite heavy sanctions imposed on the country by the United States and its allies.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk