Commander of Iran’s Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli said his country has designed a new powerful and high-precision missile dubbed “Sayyad (Hunter) 3” to be mounted on its long-range S-200 anti-aircraft system.
“We have designed Sayyad 3 missiles for the long-range S-200 air defense system,” Esmayeeli said at a National Army Day ceremony held in Tehran Saturday.
He further stated that Iranian experts have also increased the precision capability of Sayyad 2 missiles to a considerable degree.
In November, the Iranian Defense Ministry inaugurated the production line of Sayyad 2. The production line of the missile was launched in a ceremony attended by former Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan.
“The designing and production of Sayyad 2 missile was brought on agenda to have the needed defensive tool for confronting (possible) air raids,” Dehqan then said.
“The missile enjoys a solid fuel engine with a combined guiding system and high operational capabilities. Sayyad 2 is a missile for mid-range and high-altitude air defense systems, designed based on the state-of-the-art technologies which can destroy different types of helicopters, drones and targets with small radar cross-section and high speed and maneuverability within its operational range,” he added.
Iran successfully test-fired its latest air-defense missile system, Sayyad 2, in 2011.
Iran had earlier unveiled Sayyad 1 surface-to-air missile which is a two-staged air defense missile that is capable of destroying targets with low Radar Cross Section (RCS) at low and medium altitudes. The system enjoys the capability to defuse jamming and electronic warfare attacks.
Sayyad 2 is an upgraded version and enjoys higher precision, range and destruction power compared with its previous version.
In August 2013, Iran announced that it has used the latest home-made missile production, Sayyad 2, in its S-200 anti-aircraft system. In November 2010, Iran test-fired its S--00 anti-aircraft missile systems.
Iran’s S-200 system is a very long range, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to defend large areas from bomber attack or other strategic aircrafts. Each battalion has 6 single-rail missile launchers and fire control radar. It can be linked to other, longer-range radar systems.
Each missile is launched by 4 solid-fueled strap-on rocket boosters. Maximum range is between 200 and 350 km depending on the model. The missile uses radio illumination mid-course correction to fly towards the target with a terminal semi active radar homing phase.
Source: FNA
