Iran officially started production of two new missiles Saturday, state radio said. Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi inaugurated production lines for the Qaem anti-helicopter missile and for the Toofan-5 anti-armor missile, it reported. “Upon the mass production and the delivery of these modern weapons to the armed forces, the country's defense capability would improve in land and air warfare,” the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Vahidi as saying. State radio said Toofan-5 carried two warheads and was able to destroy armored personnel carriers and tanks. It did not say where the production was located. Vahidi described Qaem as a light-weight, guided missile “that is able to destroy low-altitude air targets, particularly armored combat helicopters,” Fars reported. “The laser-guided Qaem missiles are resistant to the enemy's electronic warfare,” he added. The announcement of new missile production came three days after Iran said it test-launched a rocket capable of carrying a satellite, a move Washington described as a “provocative act.”
