Iran unveils air defence systems

The Iranian military unveiled several new air defence systems during its 11 to 15 November 'Velayat 4' exercise. The extensively publicised exercise covered an area of nearly 950,000 km ² in eastern Iran and involved units from the army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), with the air force playing the role of opposition forces.

The new systems were identified as Ya Zahra 3 (YZ3) low-altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, Ghader mobile medium-altitude SAM, and Shalamcheh SAM.

The original Ya Zahra system was first displayed in 2002 and looked very similar to China's FM-80, which is a derivative of the French Crotale system. It was confirmed in November 2010 that Iran had obtained the FM-80 system, although Iranian media reports claimed the systems had been upgraded after arriving from China. Photographs released at the time showed one FM-80 with electro-optical devices fitted next to its radar dish.

The recently unveiled YZ3 is also similar in general layout to the FM-80, although uses a slightly different towed launch platform.