Tehran
TehranAFP photo

Iran on Tuesday unveiled a newly-developed advanced radar system with high target detection capabilities, reported the semi-official Fars news agency.

“The radar is complementary to the phased array radar system unveiled on September 1 and its repair and maintenance is very simple,” the Commander of Iran’s Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base, Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli, was quoted by the agency as having said.

Esmayeeli said the new radar system, Arash, boosts the country’s radar power in all the frequency bands of VHF, UHF and HF and will make the country’s integrated radar network more powerful in any possible electronic war.

“The indigenized Arash radar system will gift an extremely high range to the country’s air defense network using very low energy,” he boasted, adding that Arash will be stationed in an Iranian site this week.

Iran announced on December 10 that it plans to unveil a newly-developed advanced radar with a high target detection capability which is part of a new air defense system.

“The powerful Arash radar is one of the most important achievements of Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base which will be unveiled (in the Eastern part of Iran) today,” Esmayeeli said, according to Fars.

Esmayeeli stressed that Arash has been designed and built by the young Iranian scientists at Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base.

“The radar has high capability in detecting and identifying targets and in electronic warfare,” he added.

The commander declined to reveal any more data or information about the details of the new air defense shield or the new radar system.

Iran often boasts of military advances but it is not clear how accurate these announcements really are and whether they are actually an attempt by the regime to convince Iranians of the country’s military strength.

In November, Iran announced its new combat drone, the "Fotros," which sports a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles).

The development of the latest drone follows ongoing Iranian efforts to step up its domestic arms production, with Iranian developments reportedly driven by captured U.S. drones.

In February, Iran presented a new fighter jet, claiming it is able to evade radar systems.

Code-named the Qaher (Conqueror) F-313 and shaped similar to stealth bombers, the grey warplane was designed and built domestically, then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted.

Israeli experts subsequently cast doubt about the authenticity of the fighter jet, noting that Iran has no capability to build aircraft.

On Monday, Iran announced that it had launched a monkey into space for a second time, just 11 months after it claimed to have successfully conducted tests with another primate and produced conflicting photos about the test.