Iran's Install of S-300 Missile Defense System

From Fars News Agency:

An Israeli think tank claimed that Iran will install an advanced air defense system the country bought from Russia next year. The report said the S-300PMU-2 air defense system will be deployed in 2009 and it will be operational by the middle of the next year.

The report by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs said the S-300 would complement other Russian air defense systems in Iran, particularly the TOR-M1.

"The S-300 system, which has a radius of over 90 miles and effective altitudes of about 90,000 feet, is capable of tracking up to 100 targets simultaneously," the World Tribune quoted the report as saying on Wednesday.

"It is considered one of the best in the world and is amazingly versatile. It is capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missile warheads," it added.

The report said the deployment of the defense system in Iran will hamper any US and Israeli plans to launch an attack against the country.

"The deployment of the anti-aircraft shield next spring, if it occurs, effectively limits the window in which Israel or the United States could conduct an effective aerial campaign aimed at destroying, delaying or crippling the Iranian nuclear program," the report added.

"Many of the Iranian targets are fortified, and will require bunker busters," the report said.

"Operational challenges abound. Israel's EW planes, needed to suppress anti-aircraft batteries, are slow and unarmed, and could become a target for Iranian anti-aircraft missiles or even fighter sorties," Ariel Cohen, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said.