Proposed Defense Minister: We Are Vigorously Pursuing Strengthening of Air Defense / We Are Seeking New Products to Achieve Production and Technology Capacity Within Six Months at Most

The proposed Defense Minister, outlining his 16 programs for managing the ministry, named the reconstruction of the Defense Ministry, strengthening air defense, modernizing defense equipment, and improving the livelihoods of the armed forces as his priorities.

Fars: The proposed Minister of Defense, describing his 16 plans for the administration of this ministry, named the re-creation of the Ministry of Defense, strengthening of air defense, modernization of defense equipment and improving the livelihood of the armed forces as his priorities.

Mehrdad Akhli, the proposed candidate for the Ministry of Defense and Support of the Armed Forces in today's (Monday, October 20) special session of the parliament, while honoring the memory of our martyred leader and other martyrs, while explaining his records, actions and performance in the past years, said: "I was never interested in taking responsibility during my service, and I will take on the proposed responsibility that was communicated and assigned to me, if recognized and approved by the members of the parliament, and I will do it with all my strength."

He added: In order to make sure that I have the ability to carry out this mission, in the last two weeks I reached the service of the military commanders and wrote down their expectations, and I came to the conclusion that with the grace and trust in the Almighty God, it is possible to carry out these missions in the Ministry of Defense and I can also take on a part of this responsibility in this ministry.

Akhli stated: Obviously, one person cannot do anything alone, but if he leads a revolutionary and jihadist group and has experience in this direction, he will most likely achieve his goals.

Referring to the important points of the proposed plans, the proposed Minister of Defense mentioned: My priorities for the administration of the Ministry of Defense in the proposed plan are 16 items, one of which is the re-architecture and re-creation of the future Ministry of Defense.

Ekhli clarified: The reconstruction of industrial production infrastructures with compliance with passive defense is one of the other things included in the plans. On the other hand, today we are only looking for new products that have the ability to produce and new technology within six months at most. Therefore, connecting novel and emerging technology in line with leap innovation in defense systems is one of our most important goals in the 22 months remaining until the end of the government.

He mentioned the promotion of productivity as another priority for the administration of this ministry and added: We must try to make the best use of what we have and have the highest productivity, and we will follow this in the short term. Also, the development of diplomacy and international defense law in interaction with the General Staff of the Armed Forces is one of the other plans we have.

The proposed Minister of Defense added: Along with all these measures, paying attention to the livelihood, housing and treatment of retirees and employees of the armed forces is also of particular importance, and in terms of importance, it is equal to the other axes of the program.

Ekhli stated: We will pursue effective and purposeful interaction with the parliament and the armed forces, as well as the use of productive lands and properties of the armed forces to achieve these goals.

Emphasizing the need to increase productivity and effectively monitor the performance of managers, he said: Increasing productivity is definitely what we want. Effective performance monitoring has been and is still in place, but will be pursued more rigorously.

Referring to the necessity of using the capacity of the lands at the disposal of the armed forces, Ekhli said: I also believe that this capacity should be used; In my opinion, even more important than the missile range is the anti-arrogance spirit of the people; A part of these people whose presence is very prominent are the armed forces.

Referring to the priority of building housing for armed forces employees, the proposed minister of defense said: One of my work priorities as the minister of defense is to pursue the construction of housing for the armed forces. This year, in the program of the armed forces, the issue of handing over 100,000 residential units has been raised.

Referring to the country's air defense situation, he said: We are seriously pursuing the issue of strengthening the air defense through the General Staff of the Armed Forces and tracking the allocation of budgets, and we hope that more attention will be paid to this area in this period.

Akhli emphasized: The economic health of the Ministry of Defense is another important issue raised by the representatives, and I followed this issue seriously in the methods I had in my years of service, and I will definitely address this issue on the first day of my work.

Referring to another question raised by the representatives regarding his vision of the war, the proposed defense minister said: "It is certain that we do not have a vision other than what our martyred Imam had and what the supreme leader of the revolution has today, and we follow it without any deficiency, and we are the executor of the orders of the supreme leader and the honorable commander of the general forces."

Regarding the research and innovation that the representatives emphasized, he said: We will definitely be dynamic in research and innovation and we will use the capacity of universities and knowledge-based companies, and we believe that in order to reach weapons and technology, we must move on a path that can increase resilience against the enemy.

Referring to the country's long-term sanctions, Ehalli said: Iran has been under sanctions for 47 years, but have these sanctions reduced the resilience of the Iranian nation to zero? We have produced equipment and provided missile support even under the conditions of sanctions, and we do not face any particular problem in carrying out the duties of the armed forces.

The proposed defense minister reminded: We have followed the supply of equipment needed by the armed forces to fight the enemy with every method and plan and we will continue this way.

He said about monitoring threats and updating the country's defense power: The enemy continuously uses different methods to strengthen its power and attack the country, and we also monitor these developments in real time and update the equipment of the armed forces in accordance with the methods and tools used by the enemy.

At the end of his speech, the proposed Minister of Defense emphasized the need for the participation of the private and national sectors in the defense industry and said: The participation of the private sector has been in the goals of the Ministry of Defense since the past years, but its necessity has increased today.

Referring to the necessity of updating the country's defense capability, Ehlik emphasized on continuing efforts to supply the equipment needed by the armed forces and to strengthen production capacities and defense support.

According to Ambassador Arjan, a webinar meeting of parliamentarians was held today with Mehrdad Ekhli, the proposed minister of defense and support of the armed forces. 10 representatives spoke in this meeting. Also, by carefully examining the resume and performance records of the proposed minister, the representatives focused on the main axes of the future plans of the ministry and the plans that the proposed minister of defense can carry out in a certain time.

The final and supplementary summation of the representatives about the plans proposed by the Minister of Defense will be done on Wednesday, October 24.