S-300 and S-125 anti-aircraft missile complexes put into test in exercises of Azerbaijani Air Forces

According to the exercise scenario, the conventional enemy violating the airspace was found and the datum about it were passed over to the combat management station. Air targets were caught by radar and were immediately shot down by conventional shootings from S-300 PMU-2 "Favorite" and S-125 "Pechora-2» TM-type anti-aircraft missiles.

 

During the implementation of tasks, military aircrafts involved in the project completely destroyed the conventional enemy’s ground targets, combat vehicles, and combat engineering facilities with uncontrollable missiles and destructive aviation equipments.

 

After the training flights, Zakir Hasanov presented to pilots the most modern protective helmets and suits that meet NATO standards.

 

Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev presented to every pilot practically more efficient and comfortable leather waistcoats.

 

Iran Wants To Pay $4 Billion To Buy $900 Million Worth Of These Missiles

Russian surface-to-air missile system S-300

While the world went back and forth about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in 2002, Saddam Hussein was planning for the worst and did all he could to acquire a batch of Russian S-300 surface-to-air missiles.

Say what you will about Saddam Hussein, but the man had a pretty well-defined sense of self-preservation and knew the S-300s were all that stood between him and spending his final days in a "spider hole."

Perhaps thinking it's staring down a similar fate as Iraq, Iran has been doing everything it can to acquire the same missiles in the hope of developing the ability to thwart any potential attacks.

Tehran actually pinned down a deal to buy the highly capable missiles from Russia in 2007, but then president Dmitry Medvedev quashed the deal three years later citing UN sanctions prohibiting the exchange.

Iran obviously disagreed with the decision and took Russian defense contractor Rosoboronexport to international arbitration court in Geneva last April, and sued them for $900 million.

The court sided with Iran and not only granted it their requested damages, but tacked on another $4 billion fine for good measure.

Iran doesn't want the money so much as it wants those S-300s, and has now come out saying it'll forget all about the $4 billion if Russia simply agrees to fulfill its original contract.

The S-300 is the best anti-ballistic missile, anti-aircraft ordnance Russia has to offer and has enjoyed nearly 50 years of improvements and modifications. They're what China has lined up along the no-nonsense Taiwan Strait.

They're very effective, very hard to jam, and very difficult to stop. They're reputed to be one of the most advanced "multi-target anti-aircraft missile systems in the world ... [with] a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time."

If Iran's acquisition of the S-300s didn't put the brakes on a possible attack scenario, it would certainly send military planners back to the drawing board to reconsider any eventual attack scenarios.

Forgiving the $4 billion may not be enough to spur Russia's desire to do the deal, but if it actually finds itself abandoning its Syrian base in Tartus all bets may be off.

Ilya Arkhipov at Bloomberg reports a Russian Think Tank believes that if Syria falls to the opposition, the Kremlin may be prompted to give Iran what it wants.

Russia is nearly as reluctant to see an attack on Iran as Tehran, and will likely do what it can to keep that from happening.

In the meantime, the pressure is building within Iran as a new round of deep and biting sanctions received approval from House and Senate negotiators Monday.

None of this is good news for the Iranian people who are already struggling to maintain their way of life and put a decent meal on the table.

Russia Calls on Iran to Pull Missile Deal Claim

S-300 surface-to-air missile system

Russia is trying to convince Iran to withdraw its Geneva Arbitration Court claim over the scrapping of a 2007 contract for five S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Russian business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

“Iran’s complaint is an irritating issue in our cooperation which we hope to get rid of,” the Kommersant daily quoted a source in the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation as saying.

According to Kommersant, the issue was discussed during Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Iran in mid-June. Tehran however refused to withdraw the suit.

Iran’s Defense Ministry and The Aerospace Industries Organization, an Iranian state company, launched the $4-billion lawsuit against Russia’s state arms corporation Rosoboronexport in the international arbitration court in Geneva on April 13, 2011, seven months after then-president Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree terminating the contract, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1929, which bans supply to Iran of conventional weapons including missiles and missile systems, tanks, attack helicopters, warplanes and ships.

According to the daily, the case will be heard in the near future.

Meanwhile, a source in the Russian government told the Kommersant daily that the court would likely rule against Russia.

The S-300-P surface-to-air missile system

“Unfortunately, we have no grounds to think that the court will take into account all the details of the complicated Iranian issue,” the source said, adding that Russia may be obliged to pay “a giant fine” which could amount to about one-third of the country’s annual revenues from arms sales.

The paper, quoting an unnamed Russian government source, said Tehran would insist in court that the S-300 surface-to-air missile systems did not fall under the UN sanctions.

The government source also did not rule out Moscow would resume missile supplies to Tehran if the court agreed with the Iranian claim, Kommersant reported.

Iran has previously applied to the International Court of Justice to try to force Russia to fulfil the terms of the contract or pay compensation. The complaint is curently under examination at the relevant international legal bodies.

Iran remains keen to acquire highly advanced air-defense systems like S-300 in order to deter a potential attack from Israel or the United States on its nuclear facilities, which both nations claim are involved in nuclear weapons development. Iran denies developing atomic weapons. Iran has previously acquired the Russian Tor-M1 short-range air-defense missile system.

Israel has previously exerted strong diplomatic pressure on Moscow not to deliver S-300 and other air-defense systems.