Iran: Air defense takes delivery of Samavat artillery systems

Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base, told Mehr News Agency on Tuesday that the Samavat smart artillery control system is ‘dual-purpose’, meaning it can function as both active and passive.

“When in active mode, the Samavat 35mm detects targets with its smart radar system and broadcasts the targets data to the artillery tubes located at several points. The weapons then automatically lock into the target with radar and provide us with air defense at low altitude,” he explained.

“If the system is about to come under attack, its radar will immediately shut down and the optical system will come into play,” he said.

Esmaili went on to add that once in the passive mode, the system will have no transmitter; “everything it has at this point is receiver, that is it receives target data and gives it to the artillery system, and the artillery will immediately open fire on the target,” he said.

According to air defense commander, the Samavat 35mm is capable of being installed on two to six artillery systems.

“The first function of the Samavat 35mm is ‘radar’, the second is ‘optical’ and the third which is highly significant is the ‘fire size’, which allows you to increase the lethal rate for the targets,” he said.