Iran to Unveil New Models of Zolfaqar Assault Rifle Soon
“Other models of Zolfaqar assault rifle will be soon unveiled, one of them will come in a 7.62*39 caliber of Kalashnikov type, and another one will be a 5.56*45 caliber rifle,” Head of Iranian institute, Masaf, which has manufactured Zolfaqar assault rifle Ali Akbar Ra’efipour told FNA on Wednesday.
Zolfaqar is a new 7.65mm home-made assault rifle with an unloaded weight of 3.5kg that was unveiled in Tehran late last month.
The new enhanced marksman rifle is an adopted version of Heckler & Koch G36، ACR and FN SCAR assault rifles with a range of 400 to 800 (with optics) meters.
Ra’efipour said that the firearm testing of Zolfaqar weapon will be carried out in the next few months.
Noting that his team is also working on the option to fire subsonic bullets by Zolfaqar, he said that the designing of such an assault rifle is complete now.
In a relevant development in May, a senior military official announced that Iran has started mass production of the home-made sniper rifle, Shaher.
“We are now mass producing Shaher sniper rifle,” Head of the Iranian Army Ground Force’s Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Brigadier General Seyed Massoud Zavareyee said.
He said that Iran has unveiled and tested different sniper rifles so far, adding, “These weapons are usually being mass produced after undergoing different tests.”
Shaher is an Iranian-made 14.5 mm anti-materiel sniper rifle capable of penetrating concrete strongholds, armored vehicles and helicopters. It has a maximum effective range of 4 kilometers (2.5 mi). The weapon weighs 22 kilograms (49 lb) and is 1.85 meters (6.1 ft) long.
It can engage helicopters and other low flying aircraft. The anti-armor rounds used by the Shaher are capable of penetrating 50 mm (2.0 in) thick armor and come in different armor-piercing varieties.
The rifle was unveiled in 2012 alongside a series of military vehicles and transportation units.
In April 2014, a new version of Shaher was unveiled, with Pica tinny rails added on the top of the rifle.
