Iran to soon deploy homegrown over-the-horizon radar: commander

Iran

TEHRAN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- A high-ranking Iranian military commander said a homegrown over-the-horizon (OTH) radar with a range of 3,000 km will soon become operational in the country, semi-official Mehr news agency reported Tuesday.

Dubbed Sepehr (Sky), the radar is capable of monitoring all kinds of commercial, fighter and command and control military aircraft as well as airplanes fitted with radio relay stations and unmanned aerial vehicles, Deputy Commander of the Iranian Army's Air Defense Force Alireza Elhami was quoted as saying.

The radar also enables the Iranian armed forces to detect all aerial threats and transmits the required data for decision-making and countermeasures, he added.

In addition, a domestically-developed surface-to-air missile system dubbed Bavar-373 (Belief-373) with a range of more than 300 km will come into operation in Iranian Air Defense Force soon, he said.

Iranian experts are also working to increase the range of the Sayyad (Hunter) tactical surface-to-air missile system to 120 km, the Iranian deputy commander added.