By Shahryar Pasandideh
Iran is developing new missile technologies to improve its ability to wage asymmetrical warfare.
Saudi Arabia’s April 29 parading of its Chinese-made DF-3 medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) received significant attention. Similarly, Iran’s May 11 defense exhibition attracted substantial interest, which went beyond the hubbub surrounding Iran’s unveiling of a mockup of the U.S. RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which crash-landed in Iran in 2011. What was overlooked, however, was the unveiling of a number of weapons that have the potential to increase the challenge posed by Iran’s anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities.
The exhibition of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force’s (IRGC-AF) achievements was a high-profile event. In attendance were Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a large entourage consisting mainly of senior regular military and IRGC officers. The event was notable for the detailed media imagery released, and its timing, almost two weeks after Saudi Arabia made headlines by parading its Chinese-made DF-3 missiles for the first time. This was an apparent attempt to send a strategic signal to both Iran and the U.S. At the exhibition, the IRGC-AF revealed a number of new radar and surface-to-air missile systems, highlighting Iran’s advancement in modernizing its air defenses against U.S. and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) airpower. More pertinent to Iran’s A2/AD effort, however, was the unveiling of a number of new missile systems.
Following its attempt to build an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), by equipping its solid-fuel Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile with an electro-optical seeker, Iran developed two new variants of the Fateh-110. The Hormuz-1 was described as having an anti-radar role, suggesting the use of a passive anti-radiation seeker conceptually similar to the U.S. HARM missile and the Russian supersonic KH-31P. These missiles could be used against the radar of the Patriot and THAAD ballistic missile defense systems, as well as other radar in use by the U.S. and a number of GCC states. With a similar exterior, the Hormuz-2 is also based on the Fateh-110 airframe, and was described as having an anti-shipping role.
Read the full story at The Diplomat
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