Mersad Air Defense System (Iran)

[Major Shaitan Singh]

Iran built the first home-made mid-range missile defense system named as 'Mersad' [ambush], the defense ministry announced on Sunday. 


"The Mersad air defense system that is ready for delivery to the Air Defense Force is a mid-range defense system capable of destroying advanced airplanes in low and mid altitudes," Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters.


Noting that the Mersad defense system enjoys superior and more capabilities than its western rivals like the Hag mid-range defense system, Vahidi reiterated that Mersad is resistant to electronic warfare and can be used as part of a network of radar and air defense systems.

"The Mersad missile defense system is comprised of different target tracing and tracking radars, soft and hardware networks, launch pads for Shahin missiles and a command and control center," he added.

In November, Lieutenant Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia air defense base General Seyed Reza Taheri told FNA that Iran has successfully increased the speed and range of its air defense systems.

"The air defense systems' operational speed and range have been promoted thanks to the attempts made by our country's experts. We are witnessing a jump in this field when considering the previous models," the commander said. 


MIM-23 HAWK (Shahin) SAM battery

Pulse Acquisition Radar (PAR)

Continuous Wave Acquisition Radar (CWAR)

Left: Supplemental HPIR

 

[Major Shaitan Singh]

New Iranian SAM in the Making: IRIADF Commander

Iran claimed on Monday it is planning on fielding a home-built air defense missile system affording potential advantages over the Russian S-300 SAM system, which has been ordered by Tehran but yet to be delivered by Moscow.

"Today, we are building all our air defence weapons by ourselves ... the only thing we wanted to import was the Russian S-300 which so far they have not delivered for some unacceptable reasons," senior air defense force commander Heshmatollah Kasiri was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency.

"But our air defence experts and engineers are finding a way, and sometime in the not too distant future we will produce an air defence system which has the capabilities of the Russian S-300 or even more."

In October, Russia's Interfax news agency reported that Iran had made its final payment on the S-300 SAM system because Moscow has not yet given its final approval to deliver on the deal. Under the contract, Russia would sell Iran five batteries of S-300PMU1 missiles for around US$800 million (€530 million), Interfax reported. The S-300PMU1- codenamed SA-20 Gargoyle by NATO- is a mobile land-based system designed to shoot down aircraft and cruise missiles.

Military observers speculate: Chinese/Iranian cooperation on the further development of the HongQi 9 (HQ-9) surface-to-air missile system, perhaps? (Above: PLA HQ-9)

---------- Post added at 01:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 PM ----------

Sayyad-2 SAM

The Islamic Republic of Iran has successfully tested the country's latest anti-aircraft missile system dubbed Sayyad-2 (Hunter II).

The system has been tested recently and will be unveiled in the near future, Fars News Agency reported Saturday.

The Sayyad-2 is an upgraded version of the Sayyad-1 system with higher precision, range and defensive power.

The Sayyad-1 missile defense system is comprised of two-stage missiles that can target all kinds of aircraft, including bombers, at medium and high altitudes.

It is also equipped with a 200-kilogram warhead and has a speed of 1,200 meters per second.

The Sayyad-1 anti-aircraft missile system can be used in electronic warfare and against low radar cross-section (RCS) systems.

The Sayyad-2 static surface-to-air missile system is a further development of the Sayyad-1 series, which in itself is a development of the Russian S-75 (NATO SA-2 Guideline) system. The Sayyad series is also heavily influenced by the Chinese HQ-2 and may benefit from North Korean technology input. Other reports not yet confirmed suggest the updated Sayyad series to be strongly influenced by HAWK and Standard missiles in current IRIADF inventory