Shahid Soleimani-class patrol-combat vessel as seen in footage released by the Iranian state media.
On September 5, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) officially took delivery of the first Shahid Soleimani-class patrol-combat vessel during a ceremony that was held at its base in Bandar Abbas.
The new patrol-combat vessel is named after Iran’s Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a US drone strike near the airport of Iraq’s capital Baghdad in January 2020.
The construction of the patrol-combat vessel, which has an estimated length of 65 meters, began a few months after the assassination of Soleimani.
The Iranian media reported that the design of the Shahid Soleimani vessel reduces its radar cross-section, enables it to operate in adverse weather conditions, and makes it more maneuverable than similar-sized ships. It is the IRGCN’s first vessel that can also operate far from its base.
The patrol-combat vessel is armed with four large anti-ship missiles, presumably either Noor, Iran’s copy of the Chinese C-802, or its upgraded Ghader variant, as well as two small anti-ship missiles, possibly the Nasr, a copy of the Chinese-made C-704, or its upgraded version, Nasir.
The vessel is protected by unidentified domestically-developed short and medium-range air defense systems with a vertical-launch system.
“This is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s first domestically developed warship that is equipped with vertical-launch short-range and medium-range air-defense systems,” said Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Maj. Gen. Baqeri noted that the vessel is also equipped with modern systems for surface, subsurface and aerial tracking and monitoring, target detection, signals intelligence, telecommunication and electronic warfare.
Other weapons which were spotted on the Shahid Soleimani vessel included a remotely-controlled 30 mm gun and four manually operated guns that appear to be derived from the US-made three-barrelled 20 mm M197.
The vessel was designed to unload attack speedboats and vertical take-off and landing drones as well as to allow helicopters to take off from and land on its deck.
During the same ceremony, the IRGCN received the smaller Shahid Rouhi and Shahid Dara high-speed, missile attack boats.
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Iran has been working nonstop to expand its naval operations not only in the Persian Gulf, but also in the Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea. Earlier this month, Iranian Navy and the IRGCN temporary captured a maritime drone of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf and two others in the Red Sea.
