Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps rolled out its tactical ballistic missile equipped with advanced engines capable of carrying satellites into the earth's orbit, Iran's state TV disclosed Sunday.
In a ceremony in Tehran, Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami and Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Amir Ali Hajizadeh inaugurated an assembly facility that manufactures the Raad-500 missiles equipped with a cutting-edge composite engine.
The short-range Raad-500 missile is designed with the latet Zoheir Engines that are lighter compared to earlier steel versions, the Revolutionary Guard website revealed, amid deepening tensions with the United States.
The IRGC website said that the fourth-generation "Thunder" Raad-500 is a next-generation rocket capable of flying 200 kilometers longer and weighs lighter than the Fateh-110 missile.
Until now, missile casings made of stainless steel was used for this design. Tehran also introduced a rocket engine that also implements composite casing and thrust vectoring that enables the missile to track its course as it moves in flight.
The United States said that such activities by Iran is in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on the Islamic Republic to refrain from any activity connected to ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear weapons.
Iran unleashed a salvo of ballistic missiles at a military installation in Iraq housing American servicemen in January, after a US drone strike killed its second most powerful man, general Qassem Soleimani in an airport in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic's much-hyped rocket failed to carry a satellite into orbit, its state TV reported later in the day, marking the latest setback for the country's science and research program that Washington claims was a "provocative act" and helps Tehran boost its nuclear missile program.
The launch took place early evening at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's Semnan province, some 230 kilometers southeast of Tehran. A Simorgh, or "Phoenix," rocket failed to successfully blast into space to carry the Zafar 1 communications satellite because of low speed, Iran's government-run media reported.
It was the country's fourth failed attempt to launch a satellite, including one that burst out in flames on the launch pad.
In the run-up to the rocket's launch, Iranian authorities had been promoting the mission, including its Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi.
Jahromi's quick rise in Iran's highly-stacked political hierarchy already is generating speculation he could be a candidate for the country's presidential elections in 2021.
