In a ceremony at Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas, the IRGC Navy took delivery of an advanced warship, named after Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi commander of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) who was martyred alongside Iran’s Lt. General Qassem Soleimani in a US strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, and several other officials of the country's armed forces attended the ceremony.
In comments at the event, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri said the warship has a naval endurance of 14 days and can cruise within a radius of 2,000 nautical miles by evading the enemy’s radar detection.
Powered by 4 propulsive engines, the Abu Mahdi warship can stay afloat under Force Six conditions and carry out naval missions under Force Five conditions thanks to its advanced homegrown hull design, the commander said.
The Force Six in the sea is defined as the weather conditions in which the wind speed is between 39-49 km per hour and the wave height reaches 4 meters.
The commander said three domestic knowledge-based companies are making vessels for the IRGC Navy, noting that it took 15 months to manufacture the Abu Mahdi warship.
The IRGC will be able to manufacture three warships of the same class in less than a year, Tangsiri stated.
The commander further pointed to the other vessels and arms that came into service on Saturday, saying the Tareq-class and Ashura-class boats have been armed with Kowsar missiles.
So far, the Tareq-class boats fired only rockets, but now they have been equipped with missiles with a range of 180 kilometers, he stated.
The commander noted that the Kowsar missiles mounted on the Ashura vessels have been paired with 3-D radars that can detect and shoot down hostile planes, helicopters, and cruise missiles at high altitudes.
The IRGC Navy also took delivery of new reconnaissance vessels as well as speedboats and torpedo-dropping vessels on Saturday, he stated.
In November 2020, the IRGC Navy unveiled plans to dispatch a flotilla of military vessels, including its first oceangoing warship, to the northern parts of the Indian Ocean.
The IRGC’s oceangoing warship, which is 150 meters long and weighs 4,000 tons, is a multipurpose vessel for long-range operations. It is furnished with missiles, air defense systems, and radars.
MP/TSN