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Russia will have complete array of military-space defence capabilities by 2015, according to a leading missile manufacturer. "By 2015, we will have Morfei short-range air-defense complexes, Vityaz, Favorit and S-500 medium-range systems, and something else," said Igor Ashurbeili, general director of the Almaz-Antei concern's design bureau. Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoting him said, the 2015 deadline was linked to the fact that by that time S-300 PS antiaircraft complexes, the first in the S-300 series, would have been taken out of service. Antei is currently developing six new types of air-defense/missile defense systems, of which Ashurbeili has only named...

Russia has shipped China 15 advanced surface-to-air missile systems, the director of the Russian plant which produces the weapons was cited by news agencies as saying on Friday. The truck-mounted air defence S-300 batteries, known by NATO as SA-20 Gargoyles, can target aircraft and ballistic missiles at a range of over 15 kilometres. "We just fulfilled a large contract for the delivery to China of 15 batteries of the new S-300 missile defence systems," Igor Ashurbeili, director of the Almaz-Antei plant was quoted as saying. The contract included the supply of a total of 15 batteries, each usually consisting of...

China buys air defense systems from Russia (Reuters) - Russia has delivered 15 batteries of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to China, Interfax news agency reported on Friday, under a contract analysts said could be worth as much as $2.25 billion. China is a major buyer of Russian weapons, and the two countries say they are trying to forge a strategic partnership, though senior Russian officials are privately concerned about an increasingly assertive China. Russia has delivered 15 S-300 batteries to China, Interfax news agency quoted Igor Ashurbeili, director general of Almaz Antei which makes the missiles, as saying. "We have implemented...

"Air Force strikes in Gaza" SNIPPET: "IDF retaliates for deadly Qassam attack: Air Force hits several Gaza targets, including metal foundry, smuggling tunnel; Vice PM Shalom says Israel to offer strong response to rocket attack that killed Thai worker Thursday" SNIPPET: "IDF aircraft struck at least four targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a day after a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave killed a Thai worker in Israel, Hamas security officials and witnesses said." SNIPPET: "Israel also sent a letter of complaint to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to visit Israel at the weekend,...

Iran was believed to have been receiving Russian help to develop a variant of the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile. Western intelligence sources said Iran was contracting with Russia for the transfer of S-300 SAM technology. The sources said the technology and expertise provided by Russian engineers would enable Teheran to develop an S-300 variant while claiming that the system was indigenous. "Russia is under heavy U.S. and Israeli pressure not to export the S-300PMU1," a Western intelligence source said. "Instead, Moscow has quietly allowed Russian engineers connected to the S-300 program to work with Iran to develop a variant." The...

Riyadh has reportedly been mulling the purchase of S-300PMU Russian air-defense missile systems and other arms worth as much as $4 billion, possibly as an inducement to Moscow not to supply such advanced weapons to Iran. The Russians are doing just that and their relations with Tehran appear to going sour. So what's holding up a deal with Riyadh that would signal a potentially major geopolitical shift in the Middle East? According to Mark N. Katz, professor of government and politics at George Mason University in Virginia, "Russia's relationship may not be the most important factor in Saudi-Russian arms negotiations...

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Wednesday that it is closely monitoring China's deployment of missiles at a military airport in Fujian province and the Taiwan public has no need to worry. MND spokesman Yu Sy-tue was responding to local newspaper report which cited a Canadian defense magazine as stating that China has deployed eight battalions of S-300 PMU2 surface-to-air missile system at its Longtian military airport in Fujian province, posing a threat to Taiwan's security. The missiles have a range of 200 kilometers, and Taiwanese fighters entering air space in the northern Taiwan Strait will be susceptible to...

Russia will honour a contract to deliver advanced air defence missiles to Iran, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov said Friday. "There is a contract on the delivery of these systems to Iran and we will honour it," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. He said the "delay" in the delivery was "linked to technical problems." Russian officials Wednesday announced a delay in the controversial contract to sell S-300 missiles to Iran, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow in a bid to add new pressure on Tehran. "The delay is due to technical problems. The...

Russia raised Western hopes that it will support tougher international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear programme by announcing a delay in delivery of S-300 advanced air defence missiles. The postponement for unspecified “technical problems” was made public a day after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, urged Russia to support “crippling” sanctions against Tehran during a visit to Moscow. The United States and Israel have been pressing Russia not to deliver the S-300 missiles, which would make a successful military strike much more difficult if diplomacy failed to resolve the stand-off over Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran insists that its atomic programme is...

The delivery of advanced Russian-made S-300 air defence missiles to Iran has been delayed for technical reasons, a senior Russian official told the Interfax news agency on Wednesday. “The delay is due to technical problems. The delivery will be carried out when they are resolved,” Alexander Fomin, deputy head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, was quoted as saying. Russia’s contract to sell the S-300s to Iran has raised hackles in the United States and Israel, which believe that Tehran could use the sophisticated air defence missiles to defend its nuclear facilities against attack. Western powers suspect that Iran...

Russia sees no reason to stall on the sale of its S-300 anti-aircraft systems to Iran, the Kremlin's powerful Security Council said Sunday, hours before the premier of Iran's adversary Israel was due to visit Moscow. Barack Obama | Russia The possible sale of Russian air defense hardware to the Islamic Republic is a major irritant for both Israel and close ally the United States. Both have pressed Moscow not to go ahead with a deal that may help protect Iran's nuclear facilities from potential air strikes. "There is a signed contract (to supply S-300 missiles) which we must implement,...

On the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Moscow, senior Russian security officials were speaking out on defense-related issues that have provoked tensions between the two countries. An hour before Netanyahu's plane took off on Sunday, Russian officials said that Moscow sees no reason to delay the sale of the S-300, a powerful air-defense system, to Iran. In addition, on Friday, Russian intelligence officials leaked comments expressing their displeasure with plans by an Israeli firm to close a major arms deal with Georgia. "There is a signed contract [for the S-300 missiles] which we must follow through on,...

Russia plans to honour a deal to deliver an advanced surface-to-air missile system to Iran, a senior Russian official said yesterday according to Interfax news agency. Vladimir Nazarov, deputy secretary of the Russian security council, said there was no reason not to send Iran the S-300 missile system, in comments reported by the agency. “A contract was signed which we must fulfill, but deliveries have not started yet. This transaction is not subject to any international sanctions as it only involves the delivery of purely defensive weapons,” Nazarov said. “On the other hand, all of our actions must contribute to...

Iran, in response to Russia's refusal to deliver S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems it bought several years ago, announced that it had gone ahead and designed its own, which will have similar capabilities as the S-300. Now Iran regularly announces it has designed and built modern weapons (which it cannot buy because of three decades of embargos). These weapons rarely show up, although some are seen in prototype form. Meanwhile, the S-300, and similar systems, have not been delivered because Western nations have told Russia and China that if they arm Iran with modern weapons, there will be consequences. But an...

Libyan defense minister Younis Jaber arrived in Moscow Tuesday, Jan. 26 to sign a $2 billion military acquisitions deal that makes his country the first in the Middle East to obtain the top-of-the-line S-300 PMU-2 interceptors which Russia is holding back from Iran. debkafile's military sources report that Tripoli has purchased two brigades of four missile batteries each, conditional on their delivery by the end of 2010.

Russia has assured Iran it will honour a deal to supply the Islamic Republic with advanced S-300 air-defence missiles, Tehran's ambassador to Moscow said Friday. "We had heard reports that Russia would not deliver these systems to Iran, but we asked the Russian side and they denied it," Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajadi told reporters in Moscow. "The delivery deadline has already passed, but the Russian side has cited technical problems which it is working to fix," he added. "We feel that this question will be resolved in the space of one to two months." The envoy's comments came after Iranian...

Russia has ensured that it will honor a deal providing Iran with the S-300 sophisticated anti-aircraft system, Tehran's envoy to Moscow says.

As Iran tests the capabilities of its air defense systems in nationwide exercises, the Israeli air force is reported to be planning special seminars to prepare its attack pilots to cope with heavy surface-to-air missile defenses. According to The Jerusalem Post, the sessions will encompass "future conflict with Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran" in which air force crews will "have to deal with an unprecedented number of surface-to-air missiles, most of them Russian-made." None of these adversaries is considered to pose an overwhelming air-defense threat, although Israeli intelligence believes that Iran has supplied some shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to the Palestinian...

Iran threatens Russia with legal action Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:13:33 GMT The S-300 surface-to-air missile system. A top Iranian military official says Tehran may respond to Moscow's failure to fulfill the S-300 delivery contract through legal action. "The Russians have failed to meet their commitment due to pressure form the Zionist Lobby and the Americans," Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian said on Tuesday. "And as this agreement is an official one, it can be pursued through international legal bodies " Mansourian told reporters at the site of the Iran's five day large-scale defense drills. Iran on Sunday launched a...

The large-scale exercises Iran is currently conducting to test its air-defense network and assess its ability to protect its nuclear facilities appear to be little more than a show of defiance against the United States, Israel and Russia, its longtime key arms supplier. Without the advanced S-300PMU missiles that a fickle Moscow refuses to deliver, presumably because the Kremlin finds it more advantageous to extract concessions from the Americans, Iran's strategic targets are highly vulnerable to air and missile strikes. Indeed, as the United States and its Western allies consider imposing a package of harsh economic sanctions on Tehran for...