Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 26
By Khalid Kazimov -- Trend:
Iran will present a series of speedboats that can move as fast as 80 knots per hour by the end of the fifth national development plan, IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) Naval Force Commander Ali Fadavi said.
Iran's fifth development plan will expire at the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2016).
Fadavi added that the IRGC has on agenda to hold two maritime drills by the end of the current Iranian year, Fars news agency reported August 26.
There may be another war game held jointly with the Iranian Navy, he noted.
He also pointed on recent reports about the US Navy preparing plans to boost its capabilities against Iranian speedboats.
The US faces three threats at sea, one is IRGC speedboats, the other is mines, and the third is IRGC torpedoes, Fadavi said, claiming that the US will not be able to do much in facing Iran 's military power.
The U.S. Navy appears to have a new low-cost plan to counter Iran's fleet of speedboats, National Interest wrote in an article published on August 17.
As part of its asymmetric naval doctrine, Iran has amassed a fleet of Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FIAC) and speedboats equipped with anti-ship cruise missiles. The strategy aims to overwhelm US warships operating in the Gulf through the use of swarm tactics.
"In 2002, a joint war game exercise, known as Millennium Challenge 2002 (MC02), took place to gauge readiness in the event of a conflict with a hostile Middle Eastern nation. The results were disastrous for the US, with over a dozen ships destroyed and thousands killed or wounded as a result of asymmetric and unconventional naval warfare. 14 years later, Iranian asymmetrical warfare can still have a devastating effect on US and allied forces in the Middle East," National Interest wrote.
Edited by CN