(March 3, 2026)

For long-range defence, Iran has developed the Bavar-373 which has comparable capabilities to the Russian S-300. For short range air defence, the country has reverse engineered the Chinese HQ-7 as the Ya Zahr, and in 2021 the Zoubin system was unveiled.

Besides these copy cat systems, the country also leans on ageing Russian air defences, most notably the S-300PMU-2 battery.

However, Israel destroyed a significant number of these components in October 2024 and again during the 12-Day War the following year. Worse still, the Israeli Defence Forces learned all they can about the system in 2015 during joint air drills with Greece, which formerly operated its predecessor, the S-300PMU-1.

The exercise allowed Israel to develop comprehensive electronic warfare (EW) technologies specifically designed to compromise radars like those used with S-300 batteries: the Icebreaker missile and Haroop loitering munitions.