TEHRAN - Behrooz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said on Wednesday that the domestically-built missile defense system dubbed “Bavar-373” shows that Iran is among the leading countries in area of technology.

In a visit to an exhibition of defense industry, he praised the country’s defense advances.

Bavar-373 missile was unveiled on August 22.

Brigadier General Shahrokh Shahram, a deputy defense minister, told national TV on August 22, “The system has been designed and developed considering the country’s need for a defense system with a high range.”

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.

The air defense missile system has a higher interception range and a greater combat power compared with the Russian counterpart, and enjoys over 10,000 compound eyes, each of which serves as a radar, he explained, according to Press TV.

He also compared Bavar-373 with the U.S.-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot systems, saying it is categorized at a higher class than THAAD and is much better than the Patriot system.  

President Hassan Rouhani also boasted the production of the advanced missile system, saying the mobile missile defense system 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 during the unveiling ceremony.

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.

The system is a competitor to Russia’s S-300 missile system and brings quite a few substantial upgrades over its Russian equivalent.

Brigadier General Abbas Farajpour, head of the Iranian Air Force Studies Center, said on August 22 that the system was named Bavar (faith) because the Iranians are confident that they are able to build a system which turns the country into a “regional and international power”.

“At a juncture, the country which builds S-300 [Russia] lost its willingness to deliver the missile system to us. So, we came to the conclusion that sometimes even our friends do not want or are not be able to help us. The first spark struck and we took action to manufacture a domestic system which is more sophisticated,” he explained.

He explained that if S-300 system is able to hit 6 targets simultaneously, Bavar-373 can hit 9 targets.

He added that in the near future, there will be more demands to buy Bavar-373 than Patriot missile system.

General Reza Talaeinik, the vice defense minister for parliamentarian affairs, said on August 23 that 770 types of arms are being built domestically.

During a speech at the Friday prayers in Qom, he said more than 85 percent of defense products are manufactured domestically.

NA