The Iranian heliborne troops on Friday launched their biggest-ever operations along the western border with Iraq as the week-long military wargames came to an end

The Iranian heliborne troops on Friday launched their biggest-ever operations along the western border with Iraq as the week-long military wargames came to an end, a senior military officer said. Brigadier-General Abbas Nabizdeh, deputy commander of national ground forces, said the heliborne operations were carried out as the last stage of the "Sovereignty 80" maneuvers which were launched last Sunday. He said that the heliborne troops were transported from the northernmost parts of the country to southernmost parts in less than seven hours. The week-long wargames, fielded by some 20,000 troops and carried out by both ground and air forces, kicked off in Kermanshah province with maneuvers including heavy artillery and Katyusha rockets. Iran embarked on a defensive arms production program after its 1980-88 war with neighboring Iraq. It has built and tested a number of missiles, including the Shahab-3 with a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles). In a latest development, Iran on Thursday successfully test-fired its domestically made solid-fuelled missile. The surface-to-surface rocket could be guided to destroy its targets with high accuracy. The Fateh (Victorious) 110 has been planned and produced totally by the Iran's army experts for Iran's military self-sufficiency. Iran has also made big strides in building its domestic defense industry, producing a new transport plane, a combat helicopter, a submarine and a guided-missile warship.