Iran Press/ Iran News: One of the latest achievements in this regard is the Paykan-class warship, 'Zereh' missile launcher frigate.
On January 13, 2021, at the same time as the Army Naval Exercise, the 'Zereh' missile launcher frigate joined the Navy southern fleet in a ceremony attended by the Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the Army Chief-commander Abdolrahim Mousavi, and Navy Chief Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi.
Earlier, four Paykan-class missile launchers vessels had been designed and manufactured by the Navy specialists, namely 'Paykan', 'Joshan', 'Derfash', and 'Separ', were put into operation in the Navy's northern fleet in the Caspian Sea and 'Zereh' is the first Paykan-class vessel to be used in the Navy's southern fleet.
The Paykan-class frigates are based on a foreign model, the La Combattante-class patrol frigate purchased from France in the years before the Islamic Revolution; but except for the similarity in the structure and the two artillery weapons, in other components, they are completely different from the foreign model, and they use indigenous equipment benefiting from modern technologies.
Twelve La Combattante-class frigates entered the Iranian Navy. The Paykan frigate sank during Operation Pearl in December 1980 and the Joshan frigate in an unequal conflict with the US Navy in April 1988.
In 2003, the first home-made La Combattante-based frigate, the 'Paykan', was delivered to the Navy in memory of the Paykan sank in Anzali Port during the Sacred Defense.
Now, the addition of a maneuverable and high-speed, 'Zereh' missile launcher frigate to the Navy's southern fleet makes it possible to protect the waters under the rule of the Islamic Republic.
2,700 km of Iran's water border, the creation of new operational areas in the south, and the future replacement of old warships with more advanced and newer domestic models reveal the need to build more Paykan-class frigates.
These vessels can take on the task of larger ships in territorial areas and near waters, leaving the Navy free to send more ships to the high seas.
Overview
The 'Zereh' missile launcher frigate has a length of 47 meters, a width of 7.1 meters, and a height of 15 meters.
The Paykan-class vessels, including the 31-crew 'Zereh' frigate, have a displacement tonnage of 275 to 300 tons, are powered by 4,500 horsepower engines, and reach a top speed of 35 knots, approximately equal to 65 kilometers per hour.
Four 140 kW power generators in these vessels are responsible for generating electrical power for various applications.
These frigates have a very good buoyancy balance and stability in the rough sea by applying the results of scientific researches implemented in the country and with proper location of equipment in different sectors and other effective factors and are used for near waters up to 200 miles or 320 kilometers.
'Fajr 27', 76 mm cannon in the frigate with a fire rate of 120 bullets per minute and a maximum range of 17 km, a range of 12 km against surface targets and 7 km against air targets is the main cannon of the 'Zereh' frigate.
'Fatah 40,' 40 mm cannon with a firing rate of 300 bullets per minute, the effective range of 4 km against air targets and 6 km against sea and land targets and a final range of 12 km is another weapon of the 'Zereh' frigate.
Two launches of two cruise missile launchers that can use the 'Noor' missile with a range of 120 km and the 'Qadir' missile with a range of 300 km are placed in the middle of the deck. The 'Qadir' missile has an advanced radar, electronic warfare and navigation system and has a warhead of about 175 kg and a speed of about Mach 0.7.
In addition, the 'Zereh' frigate has more advanced communication, eavesdropping, and electronic warfare systems than previous examples of Paykan-class vessels.
The process of improving the equipment and the system, which has been implemented in four vessels produced by the 'Project Sina' in the Navy's northern fleet, continues in the 'Zereh' frigate, and in the future, another number of this combat class will be built in the southern fleet. Then the Paykan-class or 'Project Sina' frigates will enter a new phase, which is much more advanced and is actually a new class named Sina Type 3.
Features
The 'Zereh' missile launcher frigate is better in terms of equipment and some other details than the previous models made in this category. In this frigate, more than 80% of the equipment and systems have been optimized or indigenized compared to the past.
Among the improvements of the 'Zereh' frigate compared to four home-made vessels of the same class in the Navy's northern fleet, is the integrated secure telecommunications of the new generation built inside the country that can send and receive in all bands and frequencies, both in voice and data, completely encrypted. Its floating telecommunication system enables secure communication with air, surface, subsurface, and coastal units even in conditions of electronic warfare.
The 'Zereh' frigate has a more powerful engine than the models built in the northern fleet, and better and more up-to-date equipment and radar are installed on it.
This frigate has the ability to detect, identify, and engage enemy surface targets; it can observe 40 surface targets and engage 4 surface targets simultaneously.
The combat fire control system is completely Iranian and has the ability to deal with electronic warfare at a high level. This fire control system named 'Samen' has the ability to detect and track surface and air targets simultaneously and also passively. The use of 9 different techniques to increase the anti-electronic warfare capabilities in tracking air targets and the possibility of creating virtual targets for crew training are among the features of this system.
More than one hundred systems used in the Paykan-class vessels produced by the 'Project Sina', including the 'Zereh' missile launcher frigate, 65 of which are the main systems, are the latest proven achievements of indigenous technology in Iran's defense complexes.
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