Iran Equips S-200 Air Defense System with Indigenous Missiles

Speaking in a press conference here in Tehran today, Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said the Iranian experts have adapted the Sayyad 2 missiles to be launched from S-200 air defense system batteries.

“Today, the S-200 system is capable of firing the Sayyad 2 missile apart from its (original) long-range missiles,” he explained.

Earlier in November, Iranian defense minister inaugurated the assembly line for mass production of the Sayyad 2, which he said is meant to counter possible aerial threats against the country.

“The missile has a solid-fuel engine, works with combined navigation system and has high operational capabilities,” Iran's defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said at the time.

Sayyad 2 is a medium-range, high altitudes air defense missile and is capable of hitting all kinds of choppers, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other targets with a small cross-section to be detected by radars.

The Islamic Republic managed to produce the mobile version of S-200 air defense system, which it had earlier reverse-engineered from its Russian version. The country also decided to produce Bavar-373 missile defense system after Russia's refusal to sell S-300 systems to the country.

S-200 is a very long range, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile system designed in the 1960s to defend large areas from bomber attack or other strategic aircraft. Each battalion has 6 single-rail missile launchers for the 10.72 m (35 ft) long missiles and a fire control radar. It can be linked to other, longer-range radar systems.