Meet Bavar-373, Iran's rival for Russian S-300 missile system
Yusef Jalali
Press TV, Tehran
Iran’s Defense Ministry has unveiled a domestically-built air defense missile system. The new military equipment comes as part of Iran’s efforts to indigenize its defense industry in the face of the US-led arms embargo against the country.
This air defense system somehow looks like the Russian S-300 missile system, but Iranian officials say it is more advanced than the Russian counterpart.
It’s called Bavar-373. Bavar is the Persian word for faith, and 373 is the sum of the Abjad letters for the word Mohammad, the name of the Prophet of Islam.
The new defense equipment was unveiled on Thursday on the occasion of Iran's National Day of the Defense Industry, during a ceremony attended by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.
This footage shot by the Defense Ministry shows the successful test-firing of the Iranian homegrown missile system.
Bavar-373 is a mobile surface-to-air missile system. It uses vertical launching system with square launchers, which can fire up to six missiles at the same time to hit a variety of targets from ballistic missiles to UAVs within a range of 260 kilometers.
The air defense system uses a long-range, phased-array fire control radar, dubbed Meraj 4, which can detect 300 air targets simultaneously.
Iran says given the recent security threats in the Persian Gulf, the country needs to strengthen its defense power, while assuring its neighbors that its military might pursues solely defensive purposes.
Bavar-373 was designed to match the Russian-made S-300.
The production of the Iranian missile system began in 2010 after Russia refused to deliver the already purchased S-300 missile system to Iran due to international sanctions.
Moscow returned to its commitments to deliver the purchased S-300 missile system after Iran reached a nuclear agreement with the six major countries in 2016.
After over 4 decades of arms embargo against the Islamic Republic, Iran says it is now able to fully secure its borders only by relying on its domestic military equipment. For now, the country supplies plus-80 percent of its defense arsenal, including this missile system, which Iranian officials say is another product of limitations imposed against Tehran.
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