TEHRAN – Iran’s defense industry can be a model for other sections of the country to follow, says Ebrahim Raisi, head of Iran’s Judiciary.

“Today that I was fortunate to view the defense industry’s achievements was a very good day, because we saw the manifestation of the Supreme Leader’s faith and the ‘we can’ mindset,” ISNA on Saturday quoted Raisi as saying.

“Until yesterday, the alien countries and enemies assumed that reaching this level of strength is an infeasible job,” he said. “But today, we saw that the hands of Iranian experts, along with localized technologies, have created invaluable achievements.”

On Thursday, Iran unveiled a long-range surface-to-air missile system, dubbed “Bavar-373”, saying the missile system is more advanced than the U.S. Patriot system and its Russian counterpart S-300.

“The system has been designed and developed considering the country’s need for a defense system with a high range,” Brigadier General Shahrokh Shahram, a deputy defense minister, told national TV on Thursday night.

Bavar-373 missile system was developed as Iran “needed a missile system stronger than the Russian S-300, given the increasing threats” against the country, he added.

President Hassan Rouhani, who attended the ceremony, hailed the production of the advanced missile system, saying Bavar-373 is more powerful than S-300 missile system and is more like S-400.

“This very valuable work is a great present of the armed forces and Defense Ministry for the Iranian people,” Rouhani said.

Bavar-373 is a mobile missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy incoming hostile targets. The system employs missiles that have a maximum range of 300 kilometers. The system is capable of simultaneously detecting up to 300 targets, tracking 60 targets at once and engaging six targets at a time, according to Press TV.

Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in the arms sphere.

MH/PA