Iran has unveiled a new production line for an air defence missile system that it says can hit a target 300 kilometres away and that is said to be similar to the US Patriot missile system.

Iran’s Defence Minister, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Ashtian, and Iran’s Air Defence Force Commander, Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard, posed with the new Sayyad 4B guided missile on Sunday, 6th November.

It is understood to be an upgraded version of the Bavar-373 missile, with an extended engagement range of 300 kilometres, according to Iranian state media.

The Bavar 373 was itself the first homemade long-range defence system, unveiled in August 2019. It is a mobile missile defence system that is designed to intercept and destroy incoming enemy targets.

The Fars News Agency, which is run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG), said that the Bavar-373 air defence missile system is “a product of creativity and reliance on internal capabilities in terms of design, development, and deployment of a strategic missile system.”

They said that Sayyad 4B missiles can “be launched using vertical take-off systems, which, due to their square shape, are similar to those of the MIM-104 Patriot -Anti-aircraft missile system”.

Brigadier General Sabahifard had said in September, still according to Fars state media, that the “homegrown Bavar-373 defence missile system is capable of detecting and targeting the enemies’ aircraft beyond the Iranian borders, as well as simultaneously detecting up to 300 targets, tracking 60 targets and engaging six targets.”