Iran claims longer range submarine missile

Iran has developed a longer-range version of its Jask-2 submarine-launched anti-ship missile, according to Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, the commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN).

Fateh is seen during the naval parade at the end of Exercise ‘Zolfaghar 99’ on 12 September. (Islamic Republic News Agency)

“Today, the Jask-2 missile’s range is longer than the prototype’s,” he said in a 13 September television interview, according to the Fars News Agency. He did not give a figure for the new range.

Rear Adm Khanzadi was speaking after the ‘Zolfaghar 99’ maritime exercise, during which a missile was seen being launched from below the surface. The Mehr News Agency reported that it was launched by a Ghadir-class midget submarine, a type with two 533 mm torpedo tubes.

The first sub-surface missile launch shown by Iran in February 2017 appeared to be a failure, while a second seemingly successful launch was shown in February 2019.

Rear Adm Khanzadi said the Jask-2 can be carried by Iran’s indigenously developed Fateh (920) submarine, which participated in ‘Zolfaghar 99’, its first exercise since it was commissioned by the IRIN in February 2019.