Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 9
By Umid Niayesh - Trend: The production line of the "Sayyad-2" surface-to-air missile was inaugurated in Iran in a ceremony attended by the country's Defence Minister, Hussein Dehghan, Tasnim news portal reported on Nov. 9.
Dehghan underlined that, the Sayyad-2 missile uses solid-fuel engine, adding that it benefits combined guidance system with high operation capabilities.
Sayyad-2 is an upgraded version of the Sayyad-1 system which itself was development from the Russian S-75 system.
Sayyad-2 is comprised of two-stage missiles that can target all kinds of aircraft, including bombers, at medium and high altitudes.
It is also equipped with a 200-kilogram warhead and has a speed of 1,200 meters per second.
In May 2011, Fars news agency quoted Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli as saying the new air-defence system Sayyad-2 has been deployed in all air-defence units across Iran.
Iran has recently stated that it has reached self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and defence systems.
Tehran established an arms development programme during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s to counter the weapons embargo imposed on it by the US and its Western allies.
Since 1992, Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes.
Iran also unveiled its first domestically-manufactured long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 2010.