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The Russian Defense Ministry and Moscow's Avangard armaments plant have signed a 3-year contract for S-400 missiles. Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdiukov and Moscow Machine-Building Plant Avangard Chief Executive Officer Gennadi Kozhin signed the agreement. The anti-aircraft missiles will be supplied to Russian army anti-aircraft missile batteries. The S-400 "Triumph" anti-aircraft system became operational in 2007 as a successor system to the Soviet-era S-300. Avangard will be the sole supplier of missiles for the S-400 system but the value of the contract wasn't disclosed, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on its Web site, The types of missiles to be provided...

Iran enjoys a high level missile technology" and S-300 would not be the end point to Iran's efforts in acquiring or developing advanced missile defense technologies, Rapporteur of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazzem Jalali told reporters. Moscow signed a contract with Tehran in 2007 to supply the powerful S-300 missiles to Iran but it has refrained from delivering the system to the county due to the US and Israeli pressures. The S-300 surface-to-air system, known as the SA-20 in the West, can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 kilometers (75 miles) away. It also features...

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...

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 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...

Russia should honor a contract to sell a missile defense system to Iran and not bend to outside pressure, the Islamic Republic's defense minister said in remarks published on Thursday. Russia, which is under Western pressure to distance itself from Iran, has not followed through on proposals to supply high-grade S-300 air defense missiles. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Russia last month for not providing the arms to Iran, which is at odds with the West over its nuclear and missile programs. Israel says the S-300 systems could be used to defend Iranian nuclear facilities against potential air strikes....

In the deepening international stand-off over Iran's nuclear program, the Islamic Republic's quest for advanced air- and missile defense technologies could play a decisive role. "For years now, Tehran has been working hard to acquire sophisticated Russian antiaircraft missiles that would make it far tougher for Israeli planes to stage a successful attack on Iranian nuclear facilities," Christian Caryl wrote on October 2nd in the online edition of Foreign Policy magazine. That system is the S-300, an advanced interceptor array believed to be superior to the U.S. Patriot. Russia signed a deal to deliver units of the S-300 to Iran...

The Australian think-tank, Air Power Australia (APA), has released another in their series of techno-strategy papers, this time analysing the advancements in Russian-built Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) (http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-02.html), and what it means in global strategic terms for the Americans. The APA report is direct and unequivocal – Russian radar and missiles have improved to the point where the US fleet of F-15s, F-16s and F/A-18s, as well as the planned Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), are not capable of surviving against these systems and unless the Americans build another four hundred-plus F-22s, they will lose the strategic advantage they have...