Iran’s advanced S-300 air defence system, delivered by Russia following a July 2015 nuclear deal is now operational.
The S-300 air defence system has been tested. The test at a desert base had seen several targets, including a ballistic missile and a drone, intercepted.
The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded. An evolved version of the S-300 system is the S-400 (NATO reporting name SA-21 Growler), which entered limited service in 2004.
The deal to buy the S-300 system was originally signed in 2007, but Russia suspended it in 2010 citing a UN ban on arms sales to Iran.
It was revived after the nuclear deal between Iran and major powers went into effect in January last year.
The system was installed around the Fordo nuclear site in a mountain near Qom, south of the capital.
A domestically manufactured air defence system dubbed Bavar 373 which was “more advanced than the S-300” would be tested very soon.