This is the Iranian anti-aircraft defense with which Tehran intends to stop any new attack by Israel

The moment everyone was dreading has arrived. Following Israel’s announced land invasion of Lebanon, Yesterday, Iran launched a massive attack with hundreds of missiles on Israeli soil. Air raid alarms sounded across the country and explosions were recorded in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Jordan Valley as citizens took refuge in air raid shelters. While Joe Biden ordered American forces deployed in the area to shoot down Iranian missiles, the Revolutionary Guards developed its defense systems given Israel’s more than likely response.

Iran’s representation at the United Nations described the attack on Israel as “a legal, rational and legitimate response.” But the most worrying thing is a direct threat if the Jewish state counterattacks. “If the Zionist regime dares to react or commit further acts of malice, there will be an overwhelming response. States in the region and supporters of the Zionists are advised to distance themselves from the regime,” the Iranian mission said in a message published on X (formerly Twitter).

If items such as the Jericho III, the nuclear missile with a radius of 6,500 km and a warhead of 1,000 kg, came into play, Iran would have to resort to its most advanced defense systems, such as the Bavar-373. This is its longest-range anti-missile platform, with a range of up to 300 km, which would allow it to intercept incoming threats away from potential Israeli targetssuch as Isfahan Air Base and nuclear facilities. Iran does not have systems as advanced as Israel’s trio of missile shields, but it relies on different layers of short-, medium-, and long-range air defense to defend against Israeli missiles, fighters, and drones.

anti-drone shield

One of the most recent additions to Iran’s air defense is a system dedicated to shooting down short-range threats, according to Defense Blog. Was seen on the streets of Tehran in early Augustis integrated into a vehicle and has a rapidly rotating electro-optical sensor and two pods, each equipped with 4 missile launch tubes.

It is designed for intercept unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missileshelicopters and low altitude aerial targets. So many threats that Netanyahu’s army can address to Iran in response to the massive attack with hundreds of missiles that it carried out this Tuesday afternoon.

According to some sources, this new system could be an advanced and improved version of the AD-08 Majid short-range air defense system. This latest device was designed to be effective against the same threats as the last version presented and is integrated into a military truck.

The Majid has a weapons station and two pods each equipped with four missile launchers. In the center of the turret the tracking system to locate and identify potential aerial threats and to guide interceptor missiles.

The munitions used have an infrared sensor to track the drone, missile or helicopter they wish to shoot down and, depending on what they indicate, can hit targets. between 700 meters and 8 kilometers in radius and up to 6,000 meters in altitude. The system can also be integrated with a 3D radar which gives it a detection coverage of 12 kilometers and is more focused on combating larger aerial threats.

Bavar-373, mobile anti-aircraft

Developed from 2011 and declared operational in 2019 during a ceremony attended by then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, The Bavar-373 is a mobile anti-aircraft system designed in the image and likeness of the Russian S-300. Its latest update, presented in 2022, has significantly improved its performance, putting it on par with the S-400 and with the capacity, according to Iran, “to shoot down fifth generation fighter jets” like the F -35 Israeli.

Its first official test took place during an air defense exercise in October 2020, but it has yet to enter combat beyond military exercises conducted on Iranian territory. However, on paper, this is the case the most important element of the dense ground-to-air defense network of the Persian country.

The Bavar-373 It has a Fakour intelligent command and control systemwith the ability to collect information from all sources relevant to air defense. For its part, the advanced Rasoul communications system encodes information and allows radar data to be securely transferred from the battlefield to command centers.

An electronically scanned radar is responsible for detecting any threat with a detection range, according to Iranian sources, of up to 450 km and a tracking range of 400 km. Mounted on a heavy truck, this It is responsible for identifying up to 100 targets, tracking 60 simultaneously and attacking six at the same time..

In its most advanced version, like the one seen during the recent military parade in the streets of Tehran, the Bavar-373 uses an 8×8 truck that transports two large launchers equipped with Sayyad-4B missiles. These solid-fuel surface-to-air projectiles are based on the American RIM-66 and have a maximum range of 300 km, with an interception height of up to 13,000 meters.

A somewhat more modest version of Iran’s long-range anti-aircraft defense is Talash, which uses Sayyad-3 missiles to intercept aerial targets at a maximum distance of 150 km. Its versatility also allows it to fire Sayyad-2 missiles to shoot down aerial targets at medium altitude.

Each unit of these systems includes three vehicles, a mobile launcher truck that carries the missiles and two vehicles equipped with radar, command and control equipment. The latest version was presented in September 2014, the Talash 3, with a range of more than 200 kilometers.

The new Arman and Azarakhsh

In February of the same year, as tensions in the area increased due to attacks by Yemeni Houthis in the Red Sea supported by Iran, the Persian army officially presented its the new Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense platformaccording to the official press agency IRNA.

Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani assured during the presentation that “with the entry of new systems into the country’s defense network, the air defense capability of the Islamic Republic of Iran will significantly increase“.

According to Ashtiani, the Arman missile system “can simultaneously attack six targets at a distance of 120 to 180 km.” For its part, the short-range Azarakhsh system “can identify and destroy targets 50 km away with four ready-to-fire missiles“.

More specifically, the one known as Shahin Arman Mounts on the back of military trucks and is ready to deploy in 3 minutes. Its design is designed to deal primarily with long-range guided bombs, bunker-busting projectiles and explosion-proof missiles, attack munitions common to both Israel and its ally the United States.

The two versions of the Arman differ in electronically scanned array radar, active or passive, but share command and control systems and missile launchers integrated into a mobile platform designed for medium-range air defense. Always is in the testing phasealthough, according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its operational capacity will “soon” be added to Iran’s anti-aircraft shields.

For interception, uses Sayyad 3F missilesadapted and with modifications to the autopilot, warhead, flight computer, control guidance and rocket fuel to meet all system requirements. According to Iranian sources, they would also adapt the Sayad 4B missiles for their possible integration into the Arman in the future.

For its part, the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system is presented in two versions, stationary and mobile. Its main objective is to counter threats of other types, such as drones, quadcopters, cruise missiles and other small aerial targets.

For detection, it has a radar responsible for monitor low altitude airspace up to 50 kilometersusing visible light and infrared cameras for day and night surveillance respectively. Its four silent attack missiles have an optical guidance system and are capable of neutralizing threats at a range of 7 km.

Both platforms were equipped with systems to resist and counter electronic warfare attacks and interferenceto maintain the detection and tracking capabilities needed to intercept different types of threats.

These defense systems, like the Bavar-373, are part of a global strategy that also includes on-board unitsall managed by the central command of the Khatam al-Anbia air defense base. It includes, in addition to those mentioned, the 15 Khordad, Tashah systems and several units of the Russian Tor, S-300 and S-200.