Iran test-fires shoulder-launched rocket

Iran Focus: a pro-MEK website

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps successfully test-fired a shoulder-launched rocket during the fifth day of weeklong military manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, a military spokesman announced on Tuesday.

“The advanced shoulder-launched rocket ‘Mithaq 1’ - which can be carried by IRGC fast ships and used on shore and on islands - was successfully test-fired”, the spokesman, Mohammad-Ibrahim Dehghani, told the state-run news agency Fars.

Iran’s military has given much prominence to the naval war-games, dubbed “the Great Prophet”, and has test-fired various new stealth missiles and torpedoes.

The Mithaq 1 anti-aircraft rockets have a heat tracking device and are “fast” and “manoeuvrable”, the report said, adding that they were particularly good at targeting light helicopters.

Dehghani said that the rockets had been designed and built by Iran’s Ministry of Defence and had been given in large stocks to the armed forces.

Iran also has the Mithaq 2 on its production line. The more advanced rocket is capable of destroying choppers and jet fighters which fly at low altitude. Tehran claims that it is good for use in electronic warfare and it can also hit fake targets. READ MORE