Iran has deliberately stopped many public weapons unveilings and military exhibitions to keep new capabilities hidden from its adversaries, Defense Ministry spokesperson Reza Talaei-Nik said.
“One of the reasons we did not hold a military exhibition on Defense Industry Day last year or this year, and stopped a large part of our unveilings, was to surprise the enemy and protect defense information and secrets,” Talaei-Nik said in a televised interview.
He said commanders were still being briefed on developments involving ballistic and cruise missiles, drones, air-defense systems and other weapons, but that the ministry had sharply reduced what it disclosed publicly.
Talaei-Nik also said overall production of weapons and military equipment had doubled over the past year, while output of some strategic products needed during the war rose more than threefold.
He said Tehran now planned to triple weapons production, with increases of four or five times envisaged for some categories.
According to Talaei-Nik, Iran was also seeking to replace weapons and ammunition at roughly the same pace they were being used on the battlefield, relying on continuous production alongside existing stockpiles.
He described a dispersed defense-industrial network involving the armed forces, universities, research centers and thousands of private and knowledge-based companies. Around two-thirds of components, systems and raw materials for Iran’s defense industry were supplied through that broader network, he said.
Talaei-Nik said the number of private companies working with the defense sector had risen from about 8,000 to more than 9,300 in a year, while the volume of cooperation had increased by around 70%.
He also said some domestically produced weapons cost one-tenth to one-twentieth as much as comparable foreign systems, though he did not identify the weapons involved.