Defense News - Iran

A senior Iranian military commander said that the country's experts have been able to optimize the Russian-made S-200 anti-aircraft missile system so well that the Iranian version of the system has stunned Russian experts.

Speaking to FNA on Tuesday, Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said that Iran's air defense specialists have been able to optimize the S-200 surface-to-air missile system to a remarkable extent and Iran plans to change the system's name due to the profound changes it has made in the system.

"These changes have been acknowledged and praised by those who have developed the system (Russians),"the commander stated, adding that the features of the Iranian version of the system are basically different from those of the Russian type.

Meantime, Esmayeeli pointed to the country's radar power, and stated that the Iranian air-defense unit owns systems that can easily monitor and trace all radar-evading and stealth aircrafts.

He noted that Iran's radar capability was proved during the military drills conducted in the last Iranian year (ended on March 20, 2011) when Iran warned two US spy planes which wanted to near the Iranian borders.

In November 2010, Iran successfully test-fired its sophisticated S-200 anti-aircraft missile systems.

Iran's S-200 system is a very long range, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to defend large areas from bomber attack or other strategic aircrafts. Each battalion has 6 single-rail missile launchers and fire control radar. It can be linked to other, longer-range radar systems.

Each missile is launched by 4 solid-fueled strap-on rocket boosters. Maximum range is between 200 and 350 km depending on the model. The missile uses radio illumination mid-course correction to fly towards the target with a terminal semi active radar homing phase.