TEHRAN, April 4 (UPI) -- Iran is conducting military exercises and unveiling new weaponry as a warning against a possible attack on its nuclear facilities.
During an April 3 televised interview Iranian naval spokesman Rear Adm. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehqani said torpedo and missile tests would continue during the current round of "Great Prophet" military exercises, which are scheduled to run until April 6.
The operations involve 17,000 Revolutionary Guards along with naval units, fighters and helicopter gun-ships.
Al-Bawaba news agency reported on April 3 that Dehqani said: "A powerful torpedo made by experts of the Revolutionary Guards will be test-fired today in the Persian Gulf. Tomorrow, we will see other missile test-firings by the Revolutionary Guards."
In February 2005 Iran said that it had started up a torpedo production line. Iran currently has three former Soviet Kilo class diesel-electric submarines. Tehran claims that it has also started building midget submarines, which it says are capable of launching torpedoes.
On April 2 Iran successfully test-fired a high-speed torpedo, according to Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps deputy navy commander Ali Fadavi. Fadavi said that the Hoot ("Whale") Iranian-made torpedo has an underwater speed of 223 miles per hour.
Western analysts speculate that the Hoot may be an indigenous version of the Russian navy's VA-111 "Shkval-E" super-activating high-speed underwater torpedo, which Russia first offered for sale at the IDEX 99 exhibition in Abu Dhabi in early 1999. Western analysts believe that Iran purchased a number of Skhvals.
The rocket-powered Shkval travels in a linear trajectory and has a maximum range of about six nautical miles.
