The Thamen al-Hojaj war games began late on November 18 in Iran's eastern regions covering some 800 thousand square kilometers (500 thousand miles), the Iranian army said in a press release. Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili launched the first phase of the drills in which air defense units of the armed forces were positioned in predetermined locations.
A large number of combat, intelligence and operational divisions of the country's armed forces in addition to numerous passive defense units participate in the latest military maneuvers. The initial stage of the drills will assess the units' performance in setting up primary and secondary command centers and stationing tactical and swift reaction divisions while adhering to principles of passive defense.
The drills, led by the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base, will also weigh up the preparedness of the forces involved and their interoperability, and appraise the operational capacities of all the equipment.
After the end of the exercise, the spokesman of the war game, Colonel Abolfazl Sepehri, told reporters that during various stages of maneuvers, the air defense command post assessed the effectiveness of air defense units’ tactics used to control and manage fields of operations and measured units’ level of coordination and precision, and their ability to act with speed and decision.
He also described as satisfactory the performance of intelligence, communications, logistics, electronic warfare, and cyber warfare units during the operations.
Rapid response units also managed to thwart mock enemy’s plans, using innovative and camouflage techniques and domestically manufactured mobile communication equipment and without using the country’s telecommunications infrastructure network, he added.