Iran’s air defence command conducted what was billed as the first test launch of the indigenously developed Talash air defence system on 28 December.

Iran’s air defence command invited journalists to cover the event, which was held at an air defence base just outside the coastal city of Bushehr and involved a Sayyad-2 missile being launched as part of a larger air defence exercise.

Footage of another Sayyad-2 being launched at a different, unidentified location and seemingly successfully hitting an aerial target was also shown by Iranian television.

The Fars news agency reported that the Talash system uses the Ofogh (or Ofoq) fire control radar, but it is unclear if this featured in the Iranian media coverage. The Ofogh radar reportedly appeared in a parade held in the port city of Bandar Abbas on 21 September 2016.

The Sayyad-2 is a canister-launched version of the RIM-66 (SM-1) naval surface-to-air missile that Iran obtained from the United States before the 1979 revolution. The Iranian military unveiled the missile in November 2013, saying it had gone into mass production and would be used with the Talash air defence system.

Iran also released footage of Sayyad-2 launches at that time without showing the rest of the Talash system.

In April 2015 Iranian air defence commander Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili was quoted as saying that the Talash was expected to be operational before the end of the Persian year 1396, which ended on 20 March 2016.

Source: / janes /