Air Defense: May 16, 2001

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As predicted by US intelligence (in their worst nightmares), Iran is moving rapidly to purchase considerable numbers of Russian S-300PMU-01 and Tor-M1 (SA15) air defense missiles. Some of the radars used by the long-range S-300PMU-01 cannot be jammed by existing US equipment, as the Russians can spread the signal over a broad bandwidth, change polarization, and vary the waveform of the signals. Key targets to be defended include Iran's three nuclear reactors, and the research and development laboratories at Isfahan and Tehran (where Iran is building ballistic missiles).--Stephen V Cole