A senior Iranian commander says the Islamic Republic has started to produce an air defense system that will be more advanced than the Russian S-300,Iranian state TV reported.
Iran has already completed 30 percent of the production of the system, called Bavar (Belief) 373, Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said on Monday.
“We have no problems and all tasks regarding the radar system, the detection system and the type of interception have been completed,” he added.
The commander stated that following Russia’s refusal to deliver the S-300 air defense system to Tehran, the Iranian experts moved to produce a system similar to it inside the country.
He noted that Iran has completed the system’s threat detection mechanism and manufactured its sensitive parts.
Esmaili said completion of 30 percent of the project indicates the Islamic Republic’s high defensive capability.
He expressed hope that the system will be complete by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2013) or the next year.
Under a contract signed in 2007, Russia was required to provide Iran with at least five S-300 air defense systems.
Moscow has been refusing to deliver the system to Iran under the pretext that it is covered by the fourth round of the UN Security Council sanctions resolutions against Iran.