Iran equips defense units with detecting radars

Senior Iranian military commanders announced that the country has equipped its air defense units with advanced radars capable of detecting Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).Commander of Khatom ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said now Iran can trace and shoot down small UAVs over its airspace. Brigadier General Farzad Esmaeili also said that air defense units are closely monitoring overflights of foreign aircraft and are fully prepared to detect and shoot down unauthorized UAVs. In addition, he said previous radar systems have also been upgraded. His remarks came after Israeli media alleged that the Israeli Air Force has planned to boost its intelligence-gathering capabilities by the end of the year as it moves forward with plans to begin operating the Heron TP, Israel's largest unmanned aerial vehicle, capable of flying as far as Iran. Asked to comment on the report, General Esmayeeli said, "The Zionist regime talks utter nonsense." Iran has locally made radar systems with different ranges up to some 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers). Last year, Iranian officials announced that the country had reached self-sufficiency in producing radar systems in different frequencies and for various ranges. Senior Iranian Air Defense officials have also said that Iran's radar systems can detect all flying objects in the entire region, even in the Persian Gulf littoral states. "In addition to the Southern borders and waters, all Persian Gulf littoral states are under the cover of the radars of the Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base," Commander of the Air Defense Unit of Southeastern Iran General Habibollah Alizadeh told FNA last year. Referring to the production of radar equipment and instruments inside the country, he said that Iran has gained self-sufficiency in producing radar systems and it is no more dependant on any foreign countries in this ground. In August, Iran announced that it has successfully tested its home-made long range radar system that is able to cover a range of several thousands kilometers. The new radar system has the ability to detect objects at a range of several thousand kilometers, Managing-Director of the Electronics Company Sa-Iran Ebrahim Mohammadzadeh told FNA. He reiterated that the test was successful, and expressed the hope that the new radar system would become operational in the next few years. Late in June, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps put into operation a new home-made long-range radar that enables its forces to monitor low-altitude satellites. Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said "the Qadir radar system which covers areas (maximum) 1,100km in distance and 300km in altitude has been designed and built to identify aerial targets, radar-evading aircrafts, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles as well as low-altitude satellites". In September Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) Brigadier General Hassan Shahsafi announced that the country's new radar systems and equipment would soon launch operation. Also in the same month, Senior Iranian military officials announced that the country is designing a new radar system which is able to counter incoming cruise missiles. Brigadier General Behrooz Jahedi of Iran's Khatam ol-Anbia Air Base said the low-flying and long range aircraft as well as cruise missiles can be identified and targeted by the radar system. The new radar system with a range of 3,000 km can cover areas beyond the region, Jahedi said. Iran has also designed a GPS jammer that can redirect cruise missiles, he added. Also in September, General Esmayeeli announced that Shalamcheh air defense missiles can trace and intercept Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at low altitudes. "Shalamcheh missiles that are guided by the Mersad air defense system have already passed field and operation tests successfully and can destroy low-altitude flying objects such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)," Esmayeeli stated. Iran has shot down several US drones in recent years. In July a senior Iranian legislator confirmed earlier reports saying that a US drone had been shot down by Iran over Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in the Central Qom province. Member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari said that the unmanned spy plane was flying near the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province when the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s Air Defense units brought it down. The official stated that the US drone was on a mission to identify the location of the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant and gather information about the nuclear facility for the CIA. Earlier this year, a senior Iranian military official had confirmed reports on the shooting down of several enemy drones over the Persian Gulf, and said Iran has targeted a large number of these pilotless planes during the last 7 years. "We have experienced similar incidents many times in the past and there have even been drones belonging to the occupying Zionist regime (Israel), the United States and Britain which have been shot down in the Persian Gulf during the past 7 years," the senior military official told FNA in January. Also in January 2007, the Iranian military troops shot down a spy plane of the US army when trying to cross Iran-Iraq borders in the Southwestern city of Dasht-e-Azadegan, Khuzestan province.