IRGC Navy Unveils Shahid Soleimani Catamaran

Date: 05 September 2022 - 21:36

News ID: ۱۰۶۵۹۴

TEHRAN -- Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy on Monday unveiled a domestically-developed patrol combat vessel named after the country’s top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.
The military achievement was put on display during a ceremony in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
Chief of Staff of Armed Forces Major General Muhammad Baqeri, IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hussein Salami, Commander of the IRGC Navy Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri and a number of other high-ranking military officials, commanders and state officials attended the ceremony.
During the ceremony, the IRGC Navy also took delivery of Shahid (Martyr) Rouhi and Shahid Dara high-speed and missile-launching assault boats.
The hull of Shahid Soleimani catamaran is equipped with radar-evading stealth technology, meaning that it has a very low level of radar cross-section, according to General Baqeri.
The vessel, thanks to its shape, can undertake all kinds of operations in open seas, and is capable of cruising in adverse weather conditions.
The Shahid Soleimani catamaran also has a much higher maneuverability and a much smaller turning radius compared to vessels of the same size, enabling it to implement various offensive and defensive missions.
The vessel runs on four indigenous high-power engines, which give it the chance to be quickly dispatched to the designated zone, and go on long-haul maritime missions without the need for coastal support as it defends the interests of the Islamic Republic in high seas.
Moreover, it can carry helicopters, and is equipped with large helipads intended for use by military choppers as well as vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicles.
The vessel, given its combined combat features, can also carry and launch various types of fast attack craft during operations in open seas.
It is equipped with the most sophisticated reconnaissance, surveillance, telecommunications and electronic warfare systems as well as radars. It can identify and monitor designated targets at sea level, below sea level and in the air.
Among other features of the vessel is the use of homegrown self-protection systems, modern communication and telecommunication equipment, various types of encoders and data links.

“This is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s first domestically-developed warship which is equipped with vertical launch, short-range and medium-range air defense systems,” General Baqeri said.

“It is also equipped with automatic and semi-automatic systems, in addition to 20mm and 30mm cannons for peripheral defense in case of confrontations with enemy aerial and maritime objects.”

The vessel is equipped with the first combined launch system of short and medium-range surface-to-surface (SSM) missiles, enjoys an operation room that relies on an indigenous software for integrated management of combat zones, and has the ability to detect different type of targets and threats and assign them to offensive and defensive systems, Gen. Baqeri added.

For his part, the commander of the IRGC Navy said that Shahid Dara high-speed and missile-launching assault boat has four engines, weighs six hundred tons and has an operational range of five thousand knots.

Rear Admiral Tangsiri highlighted that the Shahid Rouhi military vessel is 37 meters long, has a missile range of 180 kilometers, and can cruise at 850 nautical miles.

Catamarans are typically faster than average vessels owing to their use of two small hulls instead of one large one, lessening hydrodynamic resistance and increasing speed.

The twin-hulled catamaran is a type of small, nimble warship that operates on the offensive in close proximity to the coast.

The vessels were unveiled amid rising threats posed to the region by the U.S. military and the occupying regime of Israel

The United States said Monday that two long-distance warplanes flew across the Middle East as part of a simulated bombing exercise.

Top U.S. general Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich said the “Bomber Task Force” simulation on Sunday showed that the United States and its allies can “rapidly inject overwhelming combat power into the region on demand.”

A Central Command statement said fighter jets from Britain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia escorted the two B-52H Stratofortresses from the U.S. Global Strike Command on Sunday.

In the fourth exercise of its kind this year, the planes started at the Fairford air base in England and flew above the eastern Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea “before departing the region”, the statement said.

The U.S. army “simulated firepower from the ground”.