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Airbus Defence and Space satellite image from 7 October 2013 showing the probable Sepehr radar complex in northwest Iran. Each of the four radar arrays is supported by a possible height-finding array and a sensor mast. (CNES 2013, Distribution Airbus DS / Spot Image / IHS)
Key Points
- Iran is making significant progress in building a network of long-range early-warning radars.
- IHS Jane's has identified what appears to be the 3,000 km range Sepehr radar in the northwest of the country, as well as a prototype facility for the Ghadir radar that was unveiled in June.
Iran's unveiled its long-range Ghadir radar near Garmsar in early June. (Fars News Agency)
The previously known site near Garmsar in Semnan province was publicly unveiled during a ceremony held on 2 June, when the Iranian media released photographs and video footage showing a facility with four horizontal arrays arranged in a square around a vertical array and support buildings.
Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili, the commander of Iran's air defence forces, stated that the Ghadir radar could perform well against electronic warfare systems and would be difficult to destroy using anti-radar missiles. "The radar system uses a system that resonates the frequency and can trace targets more than 1,000 km in distance," he said.
The available satellite imagery of the site, which is 15 km southeast of Garmsar (35.133722° 52.469314°), shows that the Ghadir resembles Russia's Rezonans-NE system and indicates it was operational by the end of 2012 after a construction process that took 8-10 months.
The four primary arrays are approximately 39 m in width and together form a square with sides measuring approximately 55 m. Assuming a detection range of 1,000 km, this configuration provides 360° coverage of nearly all Iran and Iraq, the far southeast of Turkey and parts of northeast Saudi Arabia.
There also appears to be a prototype Ghadir radar site located at an air defence base between the towns of Andisheh and Qods in Tehran province (35.707617° 51.074084°). Satellite imagery shows a single primary array; a vertical, tower-mounted, Yagi-style antenna; and three support buildings were constructed between late-2009 and early-2010.
Like the Garmsar site, the horizontal array is approximately 39 m long. It faces southeast at approximately 151° so should be able to cover most of central Iran and the Gulf. Recent satellite imagery indicates that the facility remains active.
Several Iranian statements during early 2011 almost certainly referred to this facility. Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), stated in February 2011 that: "The final phase of research to produce long-range radars is complete and the production phase will start soon."
Four months later, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, said: "The Ghadir radar system, which covers areas 1,100 km in distance and 300 km in altitude, was put into operation for the first time [during the recent Great Prophet 6 exercise]. The Ghadir radar system has been designed and built to identify aerial targets, radar-evading aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles as well as low-altitude satellites."
The third and most recently constructed radar was built 350 km to the west of the prototype in a mountainous part of Kordestan province. Airbus Defence and Space satellite imagery shows construction at the site 27 km north of the city of Bijar began in mid-2012 and was mostly complete by October 2013.
Like the Garmsar radar, it has four primary arrays, each 39 m in length. However, the large openings left at the corners mean the resulting square has far longer sides. A central vertical array had not been constructed by October 2013, but all the corners have dual towers housing supporting components such as height-finding arrays.
The primary arrays are oriented in such a way that they provide excellent overlapping coverage with the Ghadir system near Garmsar.
The differences between the two sites suggest the possibility that the one in Kordestan is the 3,000 km-range Sepehr system that Iranian officials have referred to in recent years.
Brig Gen Esmaili said in March 2013 that the Sepehr would become operational in the Iranian year that ended on 20 March 2014. He expanded upon this the following August, saying: "The executive stages of the Sepehr space radar with a range of over 2,500 km have been accomplished and the point for its deployment has also been specified."
The timeline subsequently slipped. Brig Gen Esmaili stated on 16 February that the Sepehr would be operational before the end of the following Iranian year.
If the Kordestan radar is the Sepehr and has a detection range of 3,000 km, it would provide 360o coverage of all Iran as well as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Turkey and Pakistan. It also provides partial coverage of Eastern Europe, southwest Russia (including Moscow), western India and most of the Arabian Sea.
