Iranian version of S-300 to join air defense network soon

A top Iranian Air Defense commander announced that the designing phase of the Iranian version of the sophisticated S-300 air defense missile system has ended and the system will soon be delivered to the country's integrated air defense network."The design of the system has been accomplished by local elite experts," Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli told reporters in Iran's Northeastern holy city of Mashhad on Tuesday. "The system has been designed by Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Command, Iranian industries and academic centers and will join the country's air defense network in the near future," Esmayeeli noted. He further said that the missile system, dubbed as Bavar (Belief) 373, is even more powerful and more advanced than the Russian S-300. "With this powerful system in our hand, we would not think of S-300 anymore," Esmayeeli stated. "Bavar 373 system is an important and completely indigenous achievement that can be a powerful rival for S-300," the commander reiterated. General Esmayeeli first announced in September that Iran is developing its own version of the sophisticated S-300 air defense system, adding that Iranian experts have removed the flaws and defects of the Russian version. Esmayeeli told FNA at the time that the country's experts have started designing and building an Iranian version of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system after Russia refrained from delivering it to Iran. Under a contract signed in 2007, Russia was to provide Iran with at least five S-300 air-defense systems. But later, Moscow shrugged off doing its end of the bargain under different excuses. Moscow's continued delays in delivering the defense system drew criticism from the Islamic Republic on several occasions. And eventually, Russia refused to deliver the system to Iran under the pretext that the system is covered by the fourth round of UN Security Council resolutions against Iran.