News / Defense

Iran to transform air defense power in Persian Gulf, Sea of Oman: Cmdr.

Monday, 27 June 2016 6:13 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 27 June 2016 10:07 AM ]

Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base

A high-ranking Iranian military commander says the Islamic Republic plans to significantly reinforce its air defense power in the areas covering the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, said on Sunday that the base has devised plans to “transform” Iranian air defense power in the skies over the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he said air defense systems are deployed in 3,700 points across Iran, and that there is no specific hitch in the operation of radars and missile systems.

Esmaili said his base ensures the security of more than 900 flights that pass over Iran’s airspace every day, and that all flights within or near Iranian airspace are being closely monitored by the country’s unified air defense system.

“If an aircraft attempts to approach our airspace, it will receive due warnings,” Brig. Gen. Esmaili said.

The senior Iranian commander further said that a great portion of international flights crossing Iranian airspace pass over Isfahan Province in central Iran, and that the country’s central air defense outpost is protecting the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) of Isfahan, the Natanz nuclear facility as well as the neighboring province of Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiari and Yazd.

An Iranian military truck carries parts of the S-300 missile defense system during the Army Day parade in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

On May 10, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said the country’s air defense has now been equipped with the Russian S-300 missile defense systems.

The Iranian defense chief also said the country was in the final stages of manufacturing an indigenous long-range air defense system known as “Bavar (Belief) 373.”

“The system, which can be used to confront ballistic and cruise missiles, drones, and warplanes, will be manufactured and put on the production line this year,” Dehqan said.

He added that the system can simultaneously engage several targets.

The Islamic Republic maintains that its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence.

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