November 23, 2013: Iran recently opened a factory to produce the Sayyad-2 anti-aircraft missile. This is an upgrade of the Sayyad-1, which was based on the old Russian SA-2 and entered service in 1999. Sayyad 1 and 2 both copied much from the Chinese HQ-2, which is itself an upgrade of the Russian S-75/SA-2 system (from the 1950s). Sayyad-2 appears to have incorporated technology from the American HAWK and Standard surface to air missiles. Sayyad-2 is a two ton, two stage anti-aircraft missile with a maximum range of 80 kilometers and max altitude of 20,000 meters (65,000 feet). The Sayyad-2 has better electronic countermeasures than Sayyad-1 but it is still dependent on the ground radar for guidance to a target and is vulnerable to electronic interference. Sayyad-2 is believed to have a more effective warhead.

The Chinese HQ-2 has been in use since the late 1960s and has been upgraded several times with modern electronics, an improved warhead, better rocket motors, and more maneuverability and turned it into a much more effective HQ-2 early in the 21^st century. Iran has been getting military technology from China for over two decades. This apparently included the tech for the solid fuel rocket motors used by the Sayyad-2 and possibly some of the electronics. If an attacker does not have good electronic countermeasures the Sayyad-2 could be quite effective.