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.
