Russia preparing second shipment of S-300 missile systems to Iran - FSMTC
MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Russia has completed delivery of the first batch of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and a second shipment is being prepared, head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Alexander Fomin said.
"We have supplied the first batch. This is a full-value complex, and not the only one. We are preparing for a second shipment. Our partners are due to make a payment," he told the newspaper Izvestia in an interview.
"We are prepared to dispatch the hardware. Hopefully, our partners will soon accept this hardware and we will transfer it. The shipment will be made as soon as financial liabilities are met," Fomin said.
It is planned to put S-300 systems on combat duty in Iran by March 2017, Iranian Khatam al-Anbia air defense base commander Gen. Farzad Esmaili said on the Iranian Press-TV channel in early June.
Rostec head Sergei Chemezov told Interfax that the S-300 delivery to Iran was on schedule and that the contract would be fulfilled before the end of 2016.
According to unofficial information, Iran will be supplied with four battalion sets of S-300PMU-2 'Favorit' air defense systems designed and manufactured by Almaz-Antey concern at a total cost of approximately $1 billion.
S-300 systems are built to protect groups of forces, strategic sites, stationary control posts, military bases, administrative centers and industrial facilities against ballistic and cruise missiles, drones, and strategic and tactical aircraft.