Iran to Test-Fire New Missile, Radar Systems

Iran’s Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base is due to test-fire a new home-made missile and radar systems later this month.
“The systems will be tested concurrent with Velayat 93 drills (due to be staged in late December),” Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli told the state-run news agency on Tuesday.

“They include radar, command (and control) and missile systems,” he added.

The Velayat 93 wargames are due to be conducted by the Iranian Navy, Air Force, Khatam ol-Anbia Base and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Southern waters of Iran later this month. Last year, the drills were conducted in the second half of the Iranian year (September, 2013-March, 2014) and were codenamed Velayat 2.

Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base in May unveiled 2 new home-made command and control systems named ‘Fakour’ (Thoughtful) and ‘Rassoul’ (Messenger) as well as Matla ol-Fajr (Dawn) radar system in a ceremony participated by Esmayeeli and some other high-raking commanders.

The tactical command and control systems, Fakour and Rassoul, can collect information from all databases and information gathering centers linked to the air defense system, passive and active radars, missile systems and adjacent command and control centers to provide an integrated image and map of the region to command and control all land-based and air-based defense systems fully independently.

The two systems are mobile and can be deployed in any region and under harsh geographical conditions and have a wide range of applications in electronic warfare. Utilizing an exclusive microwave network and the national fiber-optic and wired and wireless communication network as well as real-time assurance of target interception and destruction are among other capabilities of these smart systems.

Also during the ceremony, the air defense base unveiled the Matla ol-Fajr tactical and local radar communication system which provides a secure and stable tactical communication. The system transmits audio and data to the nearest defense units and command and control centers.

Information encryption, connection to national communication network, increasing the speed and preciseness of defense networks in transmitting battle-ground radar information to command-and-control centers and establishing multi-layer communications for short, middle and long distances are among the other capabilities of this system.

In February, Iran unveiled 21 radar and electronic defense projects in a ceremony participated by Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan.

“Today, we are witnessing inauguration of 5 production lines and unveiling of 16 defense projects,” Dehqan told reporters in the Southern city of Shiraz.

He said 2 radar systems for defensive surveillance, which were among the advanced detection radars for high-altitude air surveillance, were ready for being delivered to the Iranian Armed Forces.

Also in the field of radar subsystems, 2 important military lights, one x-ray lamp and a 5-liter oxygen converter for the cockpit had been manufactured, Dehqan said.

He also said that Iran had launched 6 important and strategic products in air and naval electronic fields, including sonar, subsurface telecommunication and ground systems, ground antenna and air computers installed on aircrafts and radars to identify friendly aircraft from enemies.

The Iranian defense minister also said that the country’s experts had built a smart disruptive radar system which can to jam different radar waves and certain missile guidance subsystems.

He said in the production of smart weapons, Iran had built thermal camera, eye-safe laser positioning system, laser fuse, laser guidance system for anti-armor missiles with more efficiency and lower weight compared with the foreign products which could be used in asymmetric and systematic wars, navigation systems and positioning of vessels.

Iran announced on December 10 that it plans to unveil a newly-developed advanced radar with a high target detection capability which is part of a new air defense system.

“The powerful Arash radar is one of the most important achievements of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base which will be unveiled (in the Eastern part of Iran) today,” Esmayeeli said at the time.

Stressing the indigenized nature of the radar, Esmayeeli said that Arash has been designed and built by the young Iranian scientists at Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base.

“The radar has high capability in detecting and identifying targets and in electronic warfare,” he added.

The commander declined to reveal any more data or information about the details of the new air defense shield or the new radar system.

Also in September 2013, Iran displayed a new home-made passive phased array radar system for detecting stealth targets and cruise missiles.

The passive phased array radar system was developed by the experts of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base to detect mobile targets at any altitude, track stealth targets and estimate their arrival speed and targets.

The tactical radar system which can be installed and put into operation in a short period of time do not emit any radar waves and therefore cannot be detected by the enemy. That’s why they are called Silent Radar Systems.