Iran unveils home-built combat drone

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JNN 21.08.10 Iran unveils its first domestically-manufactured long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in a ceremony marking Defense Industry Day in the country.

The unveiling of the home-made drone, named Karrar took place in the presence of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a number of defense officials.

The Karrar UAV is capable of carrying a military payload of rockets to carry out bombing missions against ground targets. It is also capable of flying long distances at a very high speed.

Iran’s defense industries have demonstrated spectacular progress in the recent year, launching numerous domestically-built armaments, including aerial and sea-borne military vehicles such as submarines, combat frigates, and various types of missiles.

Iran inaugurated the production line of two domistically-built UAVs with bombing and reconnaissance capabilities.

The two hi-tech drones named ‘Ra’d’ (Thunder) and ‘Nazir’ (Harbinger) are capable of performing long-range reconnaissance, patrolling, assault and bombing missions with high precision.

Ra’d, a UAV especially designed for assault and bombing missions, has the capability to destroy specific targets with high precision.

Tehran established an arms development program during the 1980-88 war that Iraq waged against Iran to counter the weapons embargo imposed on it by the US and its Western allies. Since 1992, Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Iran successfully tested a home-made radar-evading UAV with bombing capabilities in June 2009.

In 2008, the Islamic Republic’s Defense Industries launched production lines of two home-built fighter jets, namely Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) and Azarakhsh (Lightening).

Riyadh plans to sabotage Hezbollah

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JNN 21.08.10 Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is spending $500 million to implicate Hezbollah in the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, a report says.

Hezbollah has new evidence about the murder of Hariri that, if revealed, would be damaging to Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s royal family, the official website of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement party said on Sunday.

Nasrallah’s commitment to maintain Lebanon’s peace and unity has forced him to not to disclose the evidence, the report said.

“King Abdullah has allocated $500 million… to finance propaganda against Hezbollah, but Saudi Arabia’s objective is not only to ruin the reputation of Hezbollah… but to tarnish the image of Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah,” the Lebanese website quoted a Saudi Arabian opposition official as saying.

Rafiq Hariri, the father of incumbent Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, was killed in a massive car bomb explosion in Beirut in February 2005.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which was set up by the UN and the Lebanese government in May 2007, is investigating the assassination.

Last week, Nasrallah presented evidence of Israeli involvement in the assassination of Hariri in a massive car bomb explosion in 2005.

The evidence included footage from Israeli spy drones of routes used by Hariri and recorded confessions by Israeli spies substantiating that the assassination of Hariri was carried out on orders from Tel Aviv.