Iranian Air Defense Systems

[Messerschmitt]

^ An old Iranian project to turn the Rapier into a mobile truck-based system

 

[Sineva]

Heres some classic old pics from a decade ago.I`ve posted them on a couple of other sites recently so I thought I might as well post them here as well.
Its all the pics I could find from the very unexpected appearance in an early 2010 iranian military parade of what on the surface at least appeared to be an s300 sam system.What made this such a shock to so many observers was that just prior to this unveiling the russians had officially refused to deliver the s300 system that iran had purchased in 2007 citing spurious un sanctions,even tho the purely politically motivated sanctions did not even include air defence systems like the s300.
Unfortunately in the decade since then little more reliable information on this system has appeared,tho there are various theories,all without any evidence to back them up one way or another.
If nothing else it shows just how incredibly far iran has come in the field of air defence since those dark days of a decade ago.Well done Iran.

P.S.
At the time [2010 ] Carlo Kopp from the Ausairpower.net website wrote a piece where he assessed irans sam based air defences including the appearance of this system.To his credit he did not simply dismiss the possibility of it being an actual S300 system out of hand as many of the self proclaimed "experts" would`ve done simply just on principle.In addition he clearly notes the considerable effort that iran had even at that time put into the reverse/reegineering of systems like the hawk as well as acquiring more advanced radar technologies,and indeed considering the huge leaps that iran has made in both radar and sam technologies in the decade after this was written,he ends it on what could almost be considered as a rather potentially prescient note:

"If Israeli or US led air forces are called upon to fly against Iran in the nearer future, we should not be surprised if there are some nasty and “surprising” capability surprises in the Iranian IADS."

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***UPDATE***
I found a few more pics of the 2010 S300

I managed to find about the only good image out of the few images available of one of the Babr series trucks prior to its being modified for use as a transporter for part of the S300 sam system.Originally it was used as a tank transporter and the chassis is likely a refurbished/modified soviet Maz with a new iranian built cab fitted.

You can clearly see that the cab has undergone some minor restyling around the door windows and cab sides,the lights have been moved down and recessed into the bumper.The most obvious change is the fitting of the offset radiator in the front of the cab,why this was done and why the radiator was slightly offset to the right rather than being centered in the middle is a bit of a mystery.

 

[TheImmortal]

***UPDATE***
I found a few more pics of the 2010 S300

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I managed to find about the only good image out of the few images available of one of the Babr series trucks prior to its being modified for use as a transporter for part of the S300 sam system.Originally it was used as a tank transporter and the chassis is likely a refurbished/modified soviet Maz with a new iranian built cab fitted.
View attachment 613133
You can clearly see that the cab has undergone some minor restyling around the door windows and cab sides,the lights have been moved down and recessed into the bumper.The most obvious change is the fitting of the offset radiator in the front of the cab,why this was done and why the radiator was slightly offset to the right rather than being centered in the middle is a bit of a mystery.

Im not sure why you are posting pictures of welded oil drums on the back of a truck?

It was clearly a mock up.

 

[Sineva]

^ An old Iranian project to turn the Rapier into a mobile truck-based system

I found a smaller pic with slightly better quality.

Interestingly it looks like the exact same sort of vehicle,tho not identical as the cab is slightly different in configuration,was used as a transporter for the AN/MPQ-46 radar for one of the earliest iranian attempts at producing a more mobile Hawk sam system.This is the ancestor of todays Mersad 16 sam system.

Now heres a very interesting pic,we see 2 different sam seeker designs,these look to be slotted planar array types like the iranian reengineered Hawk though clearly different from it.This appears to be at the same unveiling for the early sam system prototypes that would eventually go on to be the Third of Khordad and the Tabbas.It seems very likely that these could be the seekers for the earlier versions of the Taer 1 and Taer 2 interceptors.

 

[Sineva]

Im not sure why you are posting pictures of welded oil drums on the back of a truck?

It was clearly a mock up.

LOLOLOL!!
If those were "welded oil drums" then I guess thats pretty much what the s300 and hq9 must use for their missile canisters as well,right?,because even the most cursory look at these supposed "welded oil drums" shows that the reinforcing ribs are a separate welded piece which is quite unlike normal oil drums which use a raised rib thats pressed in to the metal by rollers.So clearly NOT welded oil drums I`m afraid and to be blunt to even suggest that makes you look like a complete total idiot,no offense intended.
If this was a fake/mock up then its actually a pretty damn good one as it has just enough visible detail of good enough quality to make it seem somewhat credible,or at least not able to be easily dismissed simply at a glance,and its certainly not some crude bullsh!t made out of "welded oil drums" either.
I dont know what this system was and neither does anyone else,or if they do they`re not talking.Now with the passage of time and the unveiling of the b373 it seems increasingly likely that yes this was very probably a fake/mock up,however back in 2010 who could say with absolute certainty that is was.....and that was likely the point,the possibility no matter how remote it was that iran could have a functioning s300 or even just components of it for that matter,would still have to be taken into account by the usraeli/gcc/nato forces.
The reason that I was posting these was because its also a part of the history of sam development in iran and a very clear testament to just how far that development has come in less than a decade,pretty damn fvcking incredible,huh?

 

[TheImmortal]

LOLOLOL!!
If those were "welded oil drums" then I guess thats pretty much what the s300 and hq9 must use for their missile canisters as well,right?,because even the most cursory look at these supposed "welded oil drums" shows that the reinforcing ribs are a separate welded piece which is quite unlike normal oil drums which use a raised rib thats pressed in to the metal by rollers.So clearly NOT welded oil drums I`m afraid and to be blunt to even suggest that makes you look like a complete total idiot,no offense intended.
If this was a fake/mock up then its actually a pretty damn good one as it has just enough visible detail of good enough quality to make it seem somewhat credible,or at least not able to be easily dismissed simply at a glance,and its certainly not some crude bullsh!t made out of "welded oil drums" either.
I dont know what this system was and neither does anyone else,or if they do they`re not talking.Now with the passage of time and the unveiling of the b373 it seems increasingly likely that yes this was very probably a fake/mock up,however back in 2010 who could say with absolute certainty that is was.....and that was likely the point,the possibility no matter how remote it was that iran could have a functioning s300 or even just components of it for that matter,would still have to be taken into account by the usraeli/gcc/nato forces.
The reason that I was posting these was because its also a part of the history of sam development in iran and a very clear testament to just how far that development has come in less than a decade,pretty damn fvcking incredible,huh?

So first you say it wasn’t a mock up then admit it was a mock up. Man you are an idiot.

First of all that was unveiled shortly after Russia refused to supply S-300 to Iran back in 2010. So how convenient that after Iran couldn’t acquire S-300 it MAGICALLY was holding an S-300 the whole time? If you look at Iran’s air defense industry in 2010 it was COMPLETE GARBAGE of S-200, hawk, and other 70’s and 80’s systems. no unified system, massive holes (since 2010 Iran has added thousands of points of radar coverage)

So it is IMPOSSIBLE that Iran was hiding a long range air defense system back then as it had little experience in that field.

The articles released back then clearly showed it was a mock up, the only other possibility I heard was it was old S-300 PMU-1 system that was acquired from Belarus in early 90’s. But I doubt that.

 

[Philosopher]

In those trucks, they had put "ma mitavanim" i.e we can do it. Those were nothing but a showcase to the start of the Bavar project. They were just symbolic, nothing more.

 

[Mr Iran Eye]

Watch out for speculation because Iran has always said that they keep weapons secret. Iran has surprises in the bank

 

[Messerschmitt]

 

[Hack-Hook]

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wel that's Tabas , second generation of Ra'ad Family of airdefense that uses a mechanical radar, it later turned int 3rd of Khordad air defense system which is the third generation of the Ra'ad Family air defense and uses AESA radar and is Iran most advanced medium range system

the improvement over Tabas is the Radar itself and increasing the engagement range up to more than 105km compared to previous 50km-75km and increasing detection range thanks to Bashir Radar reached up to 350km from previous 90km

 

[Sineva]

Heres an interesting old vid that I found,it showcases an air defence drill from almost 10 years ago.The differences between now and then are pretty stark and it really shows just how much development has happened in that time.

The thing that really brings it home are the prevalence of all of the old,likely original,pahlavi/cold war era circular crt screens,tho there are a couple of scenes showing hybrid consoles fitted with new plasma/lcd flat screens as well as the old crts.
Its definitely worth taking a look at if only to remember just how far iran has come in less than a decade.

 

[Sina-1]

Heres an interesting old vid that I found,it showcases an air defence drill from almost 10 years ago.The differences between now and then are pretty stark and it really shows just how much development has happened in that time.

The thing that really brings it home are the prevalence of all of the old,likely original,pahlavi/cold war era circular crt screens,tho there are a couple of scenes showing hybrid consoles fitted with new plasma/lcd flat screens as well as the old crts.
Its definitely worth taking a look at if only to remember just how far iran has come in less than a decade.

Great vid! We will see exactly the same progress in navy and then Air Force (either manned or unmanned, depending on IRI AI capabilities)

 

[TheImmortal]

Heres an interesting old vid that I found,it showcases an air defence drill from almost 10 years ago.The differences between now and then are pretty stark and it really shows just how much development has happened in that time.

The thing that really brings it home are the prevalence of all of the old,likely original,pahlavi/cold war era circular crt screens,tho there are a couple of scenes showing hybrid consoles fitted with new plasma/lcd flat screens as well as the old crts.
Its definitely worth taking a look at if only to remember just how far iran has come in less than a decade.

All these drills and they still shot down a passenger plane right next to Iran’s biggest airport.

On top of that they had reports of this occurring in the past.

Iran’s air defense competence is a huge question mark right now. Doesn’t matter what fancy equipment they unveil, what matters is the crew that’s manning it.

 

[skyshadow]

All these drills and they still shot down a passenger plane right next to Iran’s biggest airport.

On top of that they had reports of this occurring in the past.

Iran’s air defense competence is a huge question mark right now. Doesn’t matter what fancy equipment they unveil, what matters is the crew that’s manning it.

Army air defense - IRGC air defense two different crew trainings

 

[IAm]

All these drills and they still shot down a passenger plane right next to Iran’s biggest airport.

On top of that they had reports of this occurring in the past.

Iran’s air defense competence is a huge question mark right now. Doesn’t matter what fancy equipment they unveil, what matters is the crew that’s manning it.

You may gloat and ridicule all you want but that does not take away Iran's capability, no, not even a jot of it. If Iran's air defenses were dumb as you wish there will be no passenger plane flying over Iran, all will have been shot down by now. US little success of hacking the passenger plane to behave like a hostile target must not last. Many planes flew that day over the same air defense but were not shot down.