In the 1980s, the Iranian Armed Forces began purchasing ground-based air defense systems from the USSR, and then from Russia. Currently, the Islamic country has S-300 SAM systems at its disposal, writes Military Watch Magazine.
According to Military Watch Magazine, in the 1990s, Iran bought Soviet S-200 long-range air defense systems from Russia. Then, a new family of these systems—the S-300—was sent to the country. In the early 2000s, Iran acquired the Tor-M1 SAM system from Russia.
Along with the S-300, Russian sources reported in 2020 that Iran had acquired the Rezonans-NE long-range radar system, which provided information about the operational situation in vast territories.
It is known that in the same year, the system supplied to Iran identified American F-35 aircraft in the airspace. Radar operators tracked the routes of the F-35s.
The key weakness of Iran's air defense system remains the lack of powerful radars, as well as airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
