Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow’s voluntary embargo on S-300 deliveries was no longer necessary due to the progress made in recent Iran’s nuclear talks.
The contract for supplying five S-300 squadrons was signed in 2007. But in 2010 the contract was put on hold due to the UN sanctions.
Russia has ended the production of S-300 systems as of 2010. The Russian defense contractor building the system is now producing the next generation systems, S-400. A number of countries operate the S-300 systems, including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Cyprus, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. There is also an existing contract to deliver S-300 to Syria, but it was put on hold after the start of the country’s civil war. (RT, 13 April)
File photo: Russian S-300 air defense system (RT)
What is the point of having this obsolete weaponry when there is really no value to it? Where was Russia when Iran needed it. The only reason they are selling it is to make money out of the sorry state of Iran. This is a country (Iran) that has shot herself in the foot by having alienated every worthy country in the World. The old wolf in the sheep's clothing is her best friend now plus the other country China that selling every available cheap junk to Iran.
ReplyDeleteThis is a potent air defense system, especially against cruise missiles. It will give Iran a reliable air defense system it needs.
DeleteVery true, and it will neatly complement Iran's existing long range air defense projects such as the Talash, itself a combination of older, 1990s variants of S-300 units obtained through less-than-official means notably via Belarus, mated with DIO's own radar and integration systems, plus some reworked SM-1 missiles upgraded and mastered over the years.
DeleteAir defense will very soon become Iran military industries' next big thing after solid-fueled ballistic missiles, providing the IRGC with potent defensive as well as retaliatory capabilities to make use of if ever deemed necessary... part of me feels satisfied about the implication in terms of deterrence and hence a significantly lower possibilities of the country being attacked it will incur, but the other bitterly thinks that all these assets will also help strengthen the regime a little bit further for times to come and make it more confident thus bolder at every level, diplomatic and geopolitical.... this would be the eternal dilemma every time Iran makes progress under the rule of the theocracy.
there is, of course, no scheduled delivery time...and won't be prior to a signed final agreement .... or a EU/US direct conflict with Putin's Russia.
ReplyDeleteTrue; a good point.
DeleteActually the russian have been seriously trying to get the arbitration court judgement against them dropped by iran for several months now first by offering iran the s300vm and even possibly the s400 and now going so far as to officially repeal medvedevs decree,also in case you havent noticed the eu/us are already in direct conflict with putin over the ukraine
DeleteYou think they'd give Iran the S-400?
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think so. The squadrons of S-300 being sent to Iran are probably the same squadrons that were built for Syria, but were never delivered.
DeleteIt was in the news that Iran's indigenous Bavar 373 will be unveiled for the army day (29 Farvardin). I hope it will really work and be equivalent to S-300. In which case we give them a lesson by not buying their junk.
DeleteNader UskowiApril 13, 2015 at 7:06 PM
DeleteVey unlikely that russia would do that or that iran would accept syrias s300s,russia does intend to deliver the system its just waiting on the end of hostilities if it hadnt intended to deliver them it would have scrapped/recycled them as it did with irans s300pmu1s,as for iran the options are either a new build s300vm that would take several months,waiting 2 or more years for the s400,or receiving s300pmu2s taken directly from russian stocks/combat service and delivered in a few weeks to a month at most,ironically this is happening just at the same time that iran has finished reverse engineering/cloning the s300pmu2 and is set to start production of it,so the real question here is not when russia will deliver the systems but does iran actually need the russian sams anymore as opposed to the four billion dollars judgement the russian are going to have to pay for breach of the contract
The decree lifts the ban on; among others, transit through Russian teritory to Iran and the transfer outside Russia, with the use of WESSELS and aircraft flying the Russian state flag, of the S-300 missile air defense systems.
ReplyDeleteFrom that statement it looks that significant part of delivery will be made by sea or by using airplanes the Antonov -124.
The deadline of delivery is not essential and has to wait at this point, where Russia has to wait for the nuclear deal with Iran's outcome, and solve the problem of of Russian Mistrals' delivery with France, during coming next 2 months.
One thing is sure that the Iranian operators have currently been training on that equipment in Russia, and that logistical preparations for deployment are taking place, as well as that the delivery and deployment can take place in no more than several days in case of any need or danger.
DM Gen.Dehghan, during his recent meeting with Russin counterparts, couple weeks ago, insisted on implementation of previous agreement with the Russian DM made in Tehran, and Putin's decree fullfils that action....
Now, a condition for Putin's meeting with Iranian leaders has been paved...
A-F
thanks for the insight AF .
DeleteAs long as US military can maintain a technological edge and a capability for effective counter-measures over those proposed systems , Iran's access to S300/400 technology may not be that irksome after all .
ReplyDeleteWell, the very fury of both Tel Aviv and Washington and the flurry of diplomatic pressure and maneuvering coming with and directed against Russia every single time that the mere shadow of such an arms transfer becomes visible again, plus public acknowledgement by every declassified pentagon reports and officials of the system's danger to USN and USAF aircraft, pretty much demonstrate that there is no such technological edge as of 2015.
DeleteIndeed, existing, in part because of highly agile frequency hopping capabilities incorporated in search and track radars for these SAMs, current generation airborne jamming pods cannot reliably jam their AESA elements, nor can HARM missiles effectively track and pin-point their emission with enough precision to go all the way to their target, let alone if the batteries are complemented with self-defense, short range anti-missile elements and ground-based chaff launchers, known to be more and more standard with late variants of "Triumfs". A USAF general recently dubbed the S-300/400 as "virtual no-fly zones" for NATO aircraft wherever their are deployed, including the F-35 with its current specifications, if it ever reaches the air in planned number, and if the massive hurdles in the program ever get to an end, that is.
Only the F-22s can do the math with fewer projected losses against such expensive, cutting-edge toys. But then again, against areas covered with multiple long-range OTH surveillance radars such as modern versions of Nebo-style radars (which is precisely the case of Iran), and no more than a few dozen of deployable aircraft in any given zones at a time (reason : 189 produced total, no carrier capability), they won't fix the problem.
In early 80s the Soviet Union earlier gained secret information about radars designed for the Patriot system, so your doubts that the system S-300 is not so "irksome", may be irrelevant..........
Delete+A
Iran is wasting its money.The US has most likely found away around this S300 system.Iranian people should get rid of this fascist theocratic regime so that Iran can prosper again and be one of the top ten countries in the world. These mullahs just can't give the power up because life is just too comfortable for them to resist it. Iranian people should give them a helping hand to let go.
ReplyDeleteNo it most likely hasn't, considering its public reaction to it and regular statements from some of their military and government officials, contrary to Iranian unveiling of new homegrown systems towards which Washington has consistently remained silent (by contrast to Israel, a noteworthy fact), the S-300 is called a game-changing weapon for a reason, and so far no potential US adversary has ever managed to get its hands on it. That would be some premiere with none other than Iran. The US by its own admission has yet to build an actual "next generation jammer" to be on par with the S-300/400 radar systems. The same way the Israeli air force in its time got its planes shot out of the sky like flies during the opening phases of the 1973 war (until ground troops managed to take some of them down from the ground and allow planes to fly again in some parts of the sky over the Suez and Sinai, and not the other way around) their F-16I Sufas will have a VERY hard time dealing with those systems delivered in significant quantities, for what was already a daunting task without them deployed, by all accounts.
ReplyDeleteAs for the necessity of the Iranian regime to be taken down : I couldn't agree more. But those two are separate discussions. When it comes to military balance and analysis, one has to put its political bias out of factual, documented subjects such as this one. Indeed, f there is one field in the world where the Islamic Republic has not wasted (that much) money, it would be its defense sector that has so far quite well served as a viable deterrent for its most likely regional aggressors. (bar of course the usual "corruption percent" so typical of the IRGC in every of its opaque industrial and financial undertakings and almost certainly, its many military development projects).