Iran to get new Russian air defenses

From Reuters, Wed Jul 23, 2008, by Dan Williams:

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Iran is set to receive an advanced Russian-made anti-aircraft system by the end of the year that could help fend off strikes against its nuclear facilities, senior Israeli defense sources said on Wednesday.

First delivery of the S-300 missile batteries was expected as soon as early September, one source said, though it could take six to 12 months for them to be deployed and operable. Iran, which already has TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia, said last December that an unspecified number of S-300s were on order.

Moscow denied there was any such deal. [...but see the reference to Belarus below - SL]

...The best S-300 can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes 120 km (75 miles) away....

"Based on what I know, it's highly unlikely that those air defense missiles would be in Iranian hands any time soon," U.S. Secretary of defense Robert Gates said in a July 9 briefing when asked about the S-300 -- also known in the West as the SA-20. Gates meant that Iran was a good number of months away from acquiring the system, a U.S. official said....

TIPPING POINT?
"The S-300 could prove to be a tipping point for the United States and Israel," said Sam Gardiner, a retired U.S. air force colonel who conducts wargames for various Washington agencies.

..."There's no doubt that the S-300s would make an air attack more difficult," the Israeli official said. "But there's an answer for every counter-measure, and as far as we're concerned, the sooner the Iranians get the new system, the more time we will have to inspect the deployments and tactical doctrines."

...Robert Hewson, editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons, said: "The minimum work-up time to be comfortable with the system is six months, but more time is preferable." Hewson said the Iranian S-300 deal was being conducted via Belarus to afford discretion for Russia, which is already under Western scrutiny for helping Iran build a major atomic reactor. "Belarus is the proxy route whenever Russia wants to deny it is doing the sale. But nothing happens along that route without Moscow saying so," he said.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington and Daniel Flynn in Athens; Editing by Angus MacSwan)