Upgraded Air Defence Radar System Unveiled in Iran

“This system has high capabilities and can identify all types of cruise missiles, stealth planes, drone systems and ballistic missiles for a range of 400 kilometers,” commander of the Iranian Army’s Air Defence Force Brigadier General Alireza Sabahi-Fard said on Saturday.

The Falaq is a phased-array radar system which can be incorporated into the country’s larger integrated air defence, further improving the radar coverage of existing systems, specifically that of the S-300.

The system was developed in order to counter sanctions restricting access to spare parts of a previously foreign-developed system.

Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defence sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment and hardware despite facing sanctions and Western economic pressure.

Withstanding various international sanctions and embargoes since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has striven to develop its own military hardware as part of a general doctrine of self-reliance

Iran has consequently managed to indigenously produce a wide array of hardware, including its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines, unmanned aerial vehicles, and fighter planes.

‘Making strides into twenty-first century technology’

Earlier this week, the National Interest magazine published a report examining Iran’s military industry.

“Whereas [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council states spend lavishly on high-end, off-the-shelf, US-built platforms, decades of sanctions and post-revolutionary strategic decisions to be militarily self-sufficient has led Islamic Republic to focus more on its own indigenous industries” it wrote.

The report examined ongoing research and advances in Iran’s nuclear energy program, satellite program, nanotechnology research and drone systems, concluding that “Iranian engineers and scientists are adept at developing cutting edge military technologies.”

The report also highlighted Iran’s long-term research initiatives, stating that Iran has historically been a regional pioneer in adapting modern technologies.

The article also added that “Iranian military tacticians” were increasingly “incorporating artificial intelligence if not fully autonomous systems into their platforms”, to be used in military maneuvers, missile defence capabilities and drones.

The report added that based on Iran’s current ongoing military hardware improvements, Iran may soon manage to greatly reduce the gap between its military technological capabilities and that of established military technological powers.

Iran is “making strides into twenty-first century technology”, it wrote.