Iranian media claimed a new type of radar is ready for deployment with the country’s air defense
forces. This week Fars News revealed the “Khatab al-Anbiya Air Defense Base” held an unpublicized
ceremony where a “radar system which has been built and put into action” in the city of Zahedan.
Located near the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan,
Zahedan boasts an international airport and rail links stretching across the Balochistan desert.
The adoption of another radar system suggests Iran’s military is fortifying national airspace
although its deployment to Zahedan is surprising.
The city’s proximity to the Afghanistan and Pakistan borders means it’s a transit hub but the
immediate dangers it faces, besides rare incidents of local terrorism, are unclear. The organization
known as the “Khatab al-Anbiya Air Defense Base” is recognized as a separate branch of Iran’s
armed forces responsible for coordinating Iran’s various anti-aircraft capabilities.
For them to establish a radar installation–whether it’s fixed
or mobile was never revealed–means the city is of strategic importance,
which it should be since it forms a vital link to the Chabahar Port being financed by India.
In recent years Iranian media have promoted different locally made radars meant to cover
national airspace. The most advanced was the Nazir installation rumored to
be operational at a remote high altitude base in the northwest.
The Nazir, an over-the-horizon or OTH radar, allegedly has a range of 800 kilometers and covers
Iran’s mountainous interior. Coastal radar sites also guard the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman.
If the unspecified radar system in Zahedan is a fixed site on a base,
then its purpose is enlarging the scope of the Nazir installation,
whose range still leave’s Iran’s periphery unguarded.
Iranian media and official statements have remained on message through the years
by insisting locally made radars for air defense purposes are able to thwart drones–such as the
US-made RQ-170 Sentinel that crashed inside Iran–and track “low radar cross-sections,”
implying these can defeat stealth aircraft.
Iran’s air defenses are a combination of Chinese, Russian, and domestic weapon systems meant for
shielding its largest cities and sensitive nuclear research facilities in Bandar Bushehr and Natanz.
The capital Tehran, for example, is fortified with concentric rings of long
and medium-range SAM batteries that would discourage any war planner.
But with Iran’s enemies arrayed across the Persian Gulf, the southeastern provinces have been
neglected and only a single SAM site is believed to be stationed in Chabahar, whose development is
financed by India so it can reach the Central Asian republics enjoying China’s patronage.
Chabahar, by the way, has direct road and rail links to Zahedan. It’s tempting to assume
foreign UAVs, likely operated by the US Air Force, remain active in and around the Strait of Hormuz
and stopping them is a priority. Iranian media have claimed US drones are violating national
airspace on a regular basis on missions to gather critical intelligence on Iranian locations.
This risk could be the justification for the Khatab al-Anbiya, or air defense forces,
to be expanding its resources.
The deputy commander of the Khatam-ol-Anbia air defence base added: "We have developed
our own 3D tactical Radar, putting us on the 'cutting-edge' of technology,
and among just a handful of countries which possess this powerful advanced technology."
General AliReza Elhami added: "As far as command and control systems
are concerned, we have developed a 100 percent Iranian-manufactured command and control system,
known as the Great Prophet Command and Control System. This is considered a
major achievement and a strong point of the Iranian Army and Air Force."
Commenting further, General Elhami said: "There is virtually no exchange of information or
collaboration in manufacture of command and control systems, since this is an extremely
sensitive and critical technology, which bestows superiority in the battlefield,
and most countries do not share this sensitive technology. Iranian Army scientists and engineers
have manufactured the 'Great Prophet Command and Control System' here in Iran, and the system is
being continually updated and modernised -- a fantastic achievement for Iranian scientists."
3D Radar
3D radar provides for radar coverage in three dimensions; unlike the more common 2D radar
which provides range and bearing, the 3D radar also provides information on elevation. The
information provided by 3D radar is particularly useful for air defence and interception.
Interceptors must be told the altitude to climb to before making an intercept.