TEHRAN, Aug. 26 Iran escalated talk of its military might by announcing Sunday it will begin mass producing a 2,000-pound "smart" bomb to be deployed from jets.
The bomb "remarkably increases Iran's defense capabilities," Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Iranian state television.
Najjar's broadcast included a video of a jet reportedly dropping one of the bombs and destroying a ground target, Alalam Satellite TV reported.
Iran began developing an arms program during its 1980-1988 war with Iraq in response to a U.S.-led arms embargo and since 1992 has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers and missiles, Alalam reported.
Iran also announced this month it is producing its own fighter jet to upgrade its air force, much of which dates from before the 1979 revolution.
During military exercises in the Persian Gulf last year, Iran tested missiles and torpedoes it said was capable of avoiding radar and hitting several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
