Satellite imagery shows that a replica of an Iranian-built aircraft carrier has been rebuilt and will likely be used as a simulated target at a naval exercise soon.

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The replica of the aircraft carrier was hit by a suicide boat, several cruise missiles and rockets fired from high-speed boats during a 1993 exercise by the 9th Corps, but was not sunk due to the design of the structure and was relocated to shore until recently. Completely rebuilt.

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A schematic comparison of the dimensions of a replica modeled after a real aircraft carrier from the Nimitz class. Iran uses this to practice maneuvers and attacks in the Persian Gulf.

As you can see in the picture, the length of the replica is 204 meters and its width is 40 meters. This level of resemblance to the actual case in the dimensions and appearance of the structure has made it the largest military model of the target to date.


The Islamic Republic of Iran built a mock-up of a fictitious aircraft carrier during the ages of 5-8, which bore a striking resemblance to the American Nimitz aircraft carrier. This fake ship was used and destroyed as a target during the exercise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under the title of “Great Prophet” on February 9, 1995. Iran has recently repaired the fictitious ship and painted it like the American frigates, placing fictitious fighter jets on deck and possibly using it in another combat show to demonstrate its power in the Persian Gulf.

We would like to remind you that in the ninth exercise of the Great Prophet of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, which was held for 6 days from March 27, 2015, initially, tens of operations were carried out by dozens of IRGC naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC naval vessels then launched an operation. At the start of the second phase of the exercise, the target drones were destroyed by 100 naval vessels; The drones were destroyed by missile launchers and cannons mounted on IRGC speedboats.

But the most important part of the exercise was attacking a replica of an American aircraft carrier; The model was hit by hundreds of rockets and dozens of missiles and was destroyed. The replica was hit by dozens of IRGC speedboats; Several cruise missiles and two ballistic missiles also hit the target.

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After the exercise, Admiral Fadavi, the then commander of the IRGC’s navy, emphasized that “the Americans and the world know that one of our operational goals is to destroy the US Navy, and it will only take us 50 seconds to destroy the US ship.” 

The report of Naval News on the fake aircraft carrier of the Islamic Republic states that if you see similarities between this model and the aircraft carrier at first glance, you will soon realize that this model is convincing in terms of the skill of making a ship’s reality a skill. It is not, and it is very far from the correct copies that are made for cinema. There are no elevators, no weapons, no tools, no equipment on real ships.

Another big difference between this model and real models is its size. Although its size is large and its deck is full of replicas of fake fighter jets, its length is two-thirds and its width is 50 percent smaller than the actual aircraft carriers; The aircraft model is also much smaller than the real model. The aircraft model, meanwhile, is based on the US F-5, which has not only rarely been in the US Navy, but has never been used on US aircraft carriers.

In fact, the IRGC’s fictitious ship, built at the Gchin Shipyard near Bandar Abbas, is a large cargo ship that has been tried carelessly to look like a warship.

Iran’s desire to build their own:

It is interesting to know that a cow-shaped target was painted in the center of the deck of the fake Iranian aircraft carrier. This shape is probably a point for tracking the “Fateh 110” guided ballistic missile. Iran is said to have used the missiles in an attack on a US air base in Ayn al-Assad and Erbil, Iraq, in January.


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