Iran Unveils Upgraded Radar System

Date: 10 August 2019 - 22:06

News ID: ۶۹۱۹۸

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran unveiled on Saturday a locally upgraded radar system with a range of 400 km (250 miles) that could help defend against cruise and ballistic missiles and drones.
The announcement comes at a time of rising tension between Iran and United States. Iran shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone in the Persian Gulf with a surface-to-air missile in June after it intruded into the Iranian airspace.
National television showed the Falaq, a mobile radar and a vehicle housing a control room, which it said was an improved version of the Gamma.
"This system has high capabilities and can identify all types of cruise missiles, stealth planes, drone systems and ballistic missiles for a range of 400 kilometers,” Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard, commander of the regular army’s air defenses, said.
Sabahifard said the Falaq was a locally overhauled version of a system which had been out of operation for a long time.
The Falaq is a phased-array radar system which can be incorporated into Iran’s larger integrated air defense, which includes an S-300 surface-to-air missile system that Russia delivered in 2016.
"The (Falaq) system was developed in order to counter sanctions restricting access to spare parts of a previously foreign-developed system,” Press TV said on its website.
Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment and hardware despite facing sanctions and Western economic pressure.
The country has indigenously produced a wide array of hardware, including its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines, unmanned aerial vehicles, and fighter planes.
Earlier this week, the National Interest magazine published a report examining Iran’s military industry.
Recent Iranian ship interceptions highlight Iran’s military challenge to the West, the American bimonthly international affairs magazine said.
Whereas Persian Gulf Cooperation Council states spend lavishly on high-end, off-the-shelf, U.S.-built platforms, decades of sanctions and post-revolutionary strategic decisions to be militarily self-sufficient has led Islamic Republic to focus more on its own indigenous industries, it said.
While a superficial reading of public statistics shows Saudi and Emirati spending far outstrips Iran’s as a proportion of GDP, post-revolutionary Iran has long embraced asymmetric strategies to counter enemies, both real or imagined, it added.
"This should not surprise. Historically, many Middle Eastern countries have approached technology with suspicion, but Iran has been the exception.”
As the Iranian leadership embraces new technologies, its whole-of-government approach means that its work occurs not only on military bases, but also in Iran’s universities and civilian companies, the National Interest said.
According to the publication, there is a persistent tendency within Washington to underestimate Iran. Iran’s entire nuclear program demonstrated the Iranian ability to achieve advanced technological abilities indigenously.
"Simply put, Iranian engineers and scientists are adept at developing cutting edge military technologies,” it said.
Recent incidents not only with the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf but also in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq have also highlighted Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) work, the U.S. magazine said.
Today the IRGC maintains perhaps a dozen different UAV models, the newest of which operate in day and night, utilize GPS guidance, and remain airborne for twelve hours at a time, it said.
"While diplomats continue to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, the next generation of military technology involves hypersonic weaponry, robotics, and autonomous systems,” the publication added.
That Iranian authorities successfully downed a U.S. drone just a month later suggests that Iranian advances "should not be easily dismissed,” the magazine said.