Iran to hold country's biggest anti-aircraft military exercises - commander

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 3 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/ Iran is set to hold massive anti-aircraft military exercises in late October - early November, Commander of Iran's Khatam Al-Anbiya base, general Farzad Esmaili said, ISNA reported. The general made the remarks at the press conference timed to the day of Iranian anti-aircraft forces, adding that these exercises will be the biggest ever held in Iran thus far. Speaking of Iran's manufacture of domestic anti-aircraft missile systems, Esmaili noted that about 30 percent of works on one such system have already been completed, Fars reported. Esmaili said that the system is based on Russian S-300 anti-aircraft system, and it would be called "Bavar-373". He added that the main parts of the system have already been constructed, and thus far there are no problems regarding the production. Russia and Iran signed a contract to deliver S-300 to Iran, for the amount of $ 1 billion. However, after the West imposed the embargo on offensive weapon supplies to Tehran, Moscow canceled the contract, even though, it stated that S-300 is defensive, rather than offensive weapon. Eslami noted that Iran has a strong anti-aircraft force, reminding about the incident in 2010, during the "Velayat" military exercises in Iran's Ashegan province, when Iranian forces gave warnings to the two U.S. reconnaissance jets. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az