Iran has managed to invent and produce a complicated system for controlling the fire of its Russian-made T-72 battle tanks, Defense Minister Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said on Friday.
At a ceremony to inaugurate the locally-built system, he said that the manufacturing of such a modern system was an indication of an increase in Iran's defense capabilities, the official Iranian news agency (IRNA) quoted him as saying.
Shamkhani said the control system would enhance the capability of the T-72 battle tanks to effectively operate in darkness.
He said the project, fully implemented by Iranian experts, had saved the country millions of dollars, adding that the cost of the new system was around 40 to 50 percent lower than on the world market.
The rear admiral claimed that the system could compete with similar devices produced in many developed states such as France, Sweden and the UK.
Last month, Iran began producing tank ammunition for the first time.
The Islamic republic embarked on an ambitious arms program after its 1980-88 war with Iraq.
It has built and tested a number of missiles, including the Shahab-3, which has a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles).
Later, Iran successfully test-fired its domestically made solid-fuel missile this May 31.
The surface-to-surface rocket could be guided to destroy its targets with high accuracy, claimed the Iranian armed forces – Albawaba.com
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