TEHRAN: Iran is ramping up its military might with addition of state-of-art weapons to keep. As per reports, the Iran is all set to buy Su-35 fighter jets from Russia. As per news agencies, as part its buy spree from Russia, the Iran has expressed its keen interest to buy Su-35 combat aircraft.
Earlier, a video emerged showing Iran’s Khordad-3 & Mersad air defense systems coming out of what is reportedly an underground tunnel. Interestingly, the latest video surfaced shortly after Iran unveiled its all-new underground air base in southern Hormozgan Province.
The Khordad-3, or what is also known as the Sevom Khordad air defense system, is said to resemble the Russian-made Buk M2EK air defense missile system, as both systems have a similar layout, except the Iranian system uses only three missiles instead of the four used by the Buk M2EK. The Khordad-3 is equipped with an active phased array radar, which is said to be able to detect 100 targets at once and engage four targets simultaneously and guide two missiles on each target. The system can reportedly engage targets up to a range of 105 kilometers and an altitude of up to 30 kilometers.
The Kordad-3 is famous for having shot down an American RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle in 2019 over the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first time an Iranian-made air defense system was able to successfully shoot down a hostile target.
According to Iranian media sources, the radar of the Morsad system is capable of detecting a target at a distance of 150 kilometers, acquiring a lock on it from 80 kilometers away, and engaging it at a maximum distance of 45 kilometers. Furthermore, Iranian media outlets claim that the radar has been designed to detect low-observable threats with a radar cross section (RCS) of around 0.5 square meters from 110 kilometers away.