Iranian-made missile (archive)
Iranian-made missile (archive)Reuters

In recent days, Iran conducted a test of its new missile defense system under operational conditions. The tests included the live firing of a variety of missiles, Mako News reported. In addition, the military practiced dealing with several scenarios of an attack against Iran, from the infiltration of individual aircraft, to intelligence gathering, to large-scale strikes by foreign air forces.

During the drill, the Iranians first fired the Khordad 15 surface-to-air missile defense system, a home-made made missile that first unveiled a few months ago. According to the Iranians, the system is capable of detecting fighter jets, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles within a range of 150 km and locking onto them at ranges of about 120 km.

The Iranians have also announced that this system is capable of intercepting aircraft over a range of 45 km, and the Sayyid missiles can be attached to it, allowing aircraft to be intercepted at a range of 150 to 200 km. It is a mobile system capable of intercepting aircraft in less than five minutes from the time it was deployed, according to the Iranians.

Exercise publications show that the array has been practicing its capabilities against the Iranian Air Force fighter jets, including F-14 and MiG 29 aircraft.

Iran has an extensive air defense system that is considered an independent arm. There are about 150 old anti-missile batteries in the array alongside new ones. Recently, publications have surfaced that Iran is conducting contacts to buy advanced S-400 missile batteries from Russia.

Russia is reported to have already formed a huge arms deal with Iran that will go out as soon as the country's embargo is removed (or when the Russians decide it's time). The Russians intend to sell to Iran sukhoi 30 fighters, T-90 tanks, seashore missiles and more, worth billions of dollars.