Iran Air Force wraps up Persian Gulf drill

Iran's Air Force has successfully conducted the final phase of a large aerial maneuver over the Persian Gulf. "At the final stage of the aerial maneuver, dubbed Milad-Noor-Velayat, on Wednesday, fighters of the Iranian Air Force successfully hit predetermined targets to test new domestically-made armaments," Air Force pilot Brigadier Hossein Chit-Foroush, spokesman for the maneuver, told reporters. He added that the maneuver was conducted mainly to convey Iran's message of peace to the region and its readiness to encounter any possible threats and to develop the skill of the Air Force personnel in loading planes. Reconnaissance aircraft were also used to track dummy targets and to signal F-14 to assume an interceptor role, he added. In the second stage of drill on Tuesday, Iran tested homemade fighter jets as well as interceptor aircrafts. “With regard to long-distance flights of around 3,600 km, we successfully conducted aerial refueling from tanker to fighter jet and from fighter jet to fighter jet,” Chit-Foroush said Tuesday. The first day of the aerial maneuver was successfully performed on Monday with jets flying in Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf and the adjoining Sea of Oman. The aerial maneuver was branded as strictly a "defensive exercise".

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