WANA (Apr 04) – The commander of Iran’s Joint Air Defense Headquarters announced that the country’s air defense forces, relying on modern indigenous methods and equipment, have acquired the capability to counter fifth-generation fighter jets and advanced enemy drones.

 

Brigadier General Alireza Elhami, commander of the Joint Air Defense Headquarters, made the remarks during a visit to air defense positions of the Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

Referring to the operational readiness of the country’s air defense units, he stated that these forces are lying in wait for enemy fighter jets and drones, and that the capability to intercept fifth-generation fighters and advanced UAVs has been achieved through the use of modern, domestically developed methods and equipment.

 

Elhami further pointed to the performance of Iran’s air defense during the “Ramadan War,” stating that air defense personnel successfully destroyed several advanced enemy fighter jets and shot down more than 160 hostile drones—including MQ-9, Hermes, Lucas, and other American and Israeli models—before they could carry out any offensive operations.

 

According to the commander, dozens of enemy cruise missiles were also intercepted and destroyed before reaching their intended targets, thanks to the timely and precise actions of air defense units—an achievement he said has “shattered the hollow propaganda aura of the enemy.”

 

He emphasized that targeting, damaging, and downing several advanced fourth- and fifth-generation enemy fighter jets by Army and IRGC air defense units was the result of employing modern tactics, utilizing advanced equipment, and implementing operational innovations in defense systems—factors that, he noted, have caused confusion for the enemy on the battlefield.