Bavar 373

Bavar-373 (, meaning 'Belief') is an Iranian long-range Air defense system currently under development. Development of the system began as a response to the Russian ban on the exportation of its advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile systems to Iran.

History
After the Russian ban on exporting S-300 to Iran, Defense minister Ahmad Vahidi told Iranian media at Sept. 22. 2010 that they will develop a similar domestic system by themselves: “We have planned to build a long-range air defense missile system similar to S-300. By God’s grace and by the Iranian engineers’ efforts, we will reach self-sufficiency in this regard.”

It was later revealed that the name of the system will be Bavar 373. Bavar meaning "belief" and 373 which is the Abjad number of prophet Muhammad's name.

Farzad Esmaieli, commander of Khatam-ol-Anbia Base told Iranian media that the development of this system started by the direct order of supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei when the first information about cancellation of S-300 contract was revealed and Iranian personnel were still being trained in Russia on it. He said the project was in the stage of prototype designing and that it was not going to suffer from the weak points of the S-300. He continued that in the area of detection and radars, a very good point was reached and defense ministry was working on two or three missiles each for a different range and altitude.

Later he said the system is much more capable than S-300, without mentioning the S-300 version he meant. He said that the design was complete, all the parts were going to be manufactured inside the country and it had a good ability to detect and intercept enemy aircraft.

In November 22, 2011, the first prototype was built. Iran announced that the system was designed and built by defense ministry, domestic industries and some Iranian universities. Esmaieli said that Iran doesn't even think about S-300 anymore as Bavar-373 was much more capable. Iranian sources suggest that the Bavar 373 will be mobile, with four missiles loaded on each mobile truck launcher. It also will be able to undertake a cold launch from systems similar to existing missiles, such as the Tor-M1.

The Iranian defense ministry is due to equip the country's Armed Forces with a new long-range air-defense system by March 21, 2013, a senior Iranian military official announced on Saturday August 25, 2012. On 3 September 2012, Farzad Esmaili said that the development of the system was now 30 percent complete. On 1 January 2013, the same commander announced that the sub-systems of the home made air-defense system are being tested in laboratory.

Comparable SAMs

 * S-300