Iran successfully tested S-300 Russian-made air defense system during military drills in Damavand, outside Tehran, on Saturday, IRNA reported.
A number of high-ranking Iranian military officials were on hand at the drills in an unnamed air defense base.
The operation was aimed at evaluating the performance of the S-300 system in targeting a wide range of missiles and drones, as well as assessing human performance in operating the system.
The S-300 is a series of Soviet and later Russian long-range, surface-to-air missile systems. The system is fully automated, though manual observation and operation are also possible. Components may be near the central command post, or as distant as 25 miles. Each radar provides target designation for the central command post. The command post compares the data received from the targeting radar units up to 50 miles apart, filtering false targets, a difficult task at such great distances. The central command post features both active and passive target detection modes.
Iranian military personnel completely operated the system according to simulation scenarios which replicated detection, identification, tracing, and targeting of the potential aerial threats, IRNA reported, noting that the system also fully managed to target and destroy aerial vehicles successfully.
Originally, the Russians were prepared to renege on the $800 million contract they signed in 2007 to sell Iran the S-300 missile system, because of objections from the United States and Israel. Also, the Russians at the time feared Israeli competition in natural gas exports to Europe – a threat thwarted by countless delays of off-shore drilling by the Israeli legislature and Supreme Court.
Iran threatened to sue the Russians for the broken deal, but now all is well. On Dec 4, spokesman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini said that Russia completed delivery of all the parts of the S-300 air defense system to Iran and that the two countries have agreed to develop their future logistical and technical cooperation.
