Iran’s paratroopers drill with old American C-130s
Iran has been showcasing missiles, drones and naval ships in recent weeks, seeking to show off its capabilities on the eve of the incoming Biden administration.
By SETH J. FRANTZMANMaj.-Gen. Daniel R. Walrath, commandel Daniel R. Walrath, commander of US Army South, and Major General Eduardo Zapateiro, commander of Colombia's National Army, jump from a US Air Force C-130 plane at the Tolemaida military base, Colombia January 26, 2020.(photo credit: JONATHAN DRAKE / REUTERS)
Iranian airborne troops trained in southern Iran on Tuesday in the Islamic Republic’s latest military drill.Iran has been showcasing missiles, drones and naval ships in recent weeks, seeking to show off its capabilities on the eve of the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.“Airborne forces including hundreds of paratroopers using several C-130s of the Army Air Force coordinated accurate jumps,” Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported. The drill involved having them jump behind mock enemy lines and picking up equipment that was also dropped for them, including motorcycles. It also involved the use of 107-mm. rockets, the kind pro-Iranian groups in Iraq have used to attack US forces.Iran said it used “upgraded personnel carriers by the Air Force, carrying out raiding operations using and supporting various weapons, capturing coastal areas, loading armored equipment and light and heavy weapons in the shortest possible time and carrying out an operation in accordance with real scenarios.” It used what it calls the Nezaja Rapid Reaction Force, it said.The use of C-130s is interesting because these are old aircraft Iran received in the 1960s and ’70s. Introduced in the 1950s, the C-130 is a mainstay of transport. More than 2,600 have been delivered to the US Air Force by Lockheed Martin, and they are used by 70 countries.However, Iran is openly an adversary of the US, and the aircraft were delivered to the Shah’s regime prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.“The recent war games shows... enemies the Iranian nation’s will to defend its independence and territorial integrity,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Gen. Hossein Salami told state TV. “Our fingers are on the trigger on behalf of the nation.”
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