The World’s Largest Network of S-200 Missile Defences Guards Iran: Can it Keep Israeli Fighters at Bay?

Following Israel’s initiation of large scale air attacks against Iran on June 13, significant attention has been drawn to the capabilities of the Iranian Air Defence Forces’ surface-to-air missile network and its ability to intercept Israeli cruise missiles, drones, fighters and ballistic missiles. Although the most significant attention has been allocated to Iran’s indigenous long range systems, most notably the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iran-top-air-defence-bavar373-f35-shootdowns" target="_blank">Bavar 373</a> which Iran has <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iran-shoots-down-third-f35-captures-second-pilot" target="_blank">credited with multiple shootdowns</a> of <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/custom-built-specifically-war-iran-modified-israel-f35i" target="_blank">Israeli F-35s</a>, Iran’s longest range anti-aircraft system remains the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/nato-hated-S200-longest-range-air-defence" >Soviet S-200D</a>, which was procured in significant numbers in the 1990s. Although the S-200 is an ageing system, it continues to pose a significant potential threat to Iran’s adversaries, particularly as the country fields the systems in much greater numbers than its other remaining operators Poland and North Korea. The S-200 is prized for its engagement range of over 300 kilometres, its ability to detect large aircraft up to 600 kilometres away, and its ability to track targets such as ballistic missiles in near space at altitudes of up to 45,000 metres, which makes it particularly optimal for missile defence. With the system’s V-880 interceptors being larger than Scud ballistic missiles, they can not only travel over particularly long distances, but also carry large warheads of over 200 kilograms, and can engage targets at altitudes of up to 40,000 meters.&nbsp;The interceptors are capable of shooting down incoming ballistic missiles with terminal speeds of up to Mach 6.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/18/article_6852402fc6c2e1_09797105.jpg" title="Surface-to-Air Missile Battery From Iranian Bavar 373 Long Range Air Defence System ">Although old, the S-200 has benefited from significant modernisation both of Iran’s wider air defence network, and of the system itself. Modernisation efforts reportedly focused on addressing a leading weakness of the system, namely its lack of mobility, with the commander of Khatam Al Anbia Air Defence Base, brigadier general Farzad Esmayeeli, having previously <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/upgrades-s200-iran-modernising-a2ad">announced</a> that a mobile launcher had been developed to this end. ”We have given mobility to the S-200 missile system, and the same plan to give mobility to all artillery and missile systems is on the agenda of the Air Defense Force," he said, adding that improvements to the system’s sensors had also been made to reduce its detection-firing-tracing time. The immense size of the S-200’s V-880 interceptors has brought the extent to which it could made made road-mobile at an acceptable cost into question, although should Iran have proven successful in doing so, it would make elements of the system significantly less vulnerable to attack. A primary reason why the S-200 was phased out of service in Russia in the 1990s was due to its lack of mobility, which was seen to be a major disadvantage when compared to the newer S-300PM series of air defence systems procured to replace it.<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/18/article_6852404c31fc76_14781855.webp" title="Israeli Air Force F-16 Launches Delilah Cruise Missile">Iranian sources have reported that the country has integrated new indigenous missiles into its S-200 systems, namely the Sayyad 2 and Sayyad 3, which are reportedly improved and reverse engineered derivatives of the S-200's V-880.&nbsp;These investments indicated that the Iranian Air Defence Forces continued to attribute significant value to the S-200, despite producing more advanced shorter ranged systems domestically. The S-200’s ability to repel Israeli air attacks is expected to be influenced by several factors, primarily its vulnerability to Israeli electronic warfare, which remains a leading means for the Israeli Air Force to ensure the survivability of its fighter if operating within range of enemy air defences. When targeting airspace defended by S-200s in the past, the Israeli Air Force’s fighters were able to avoid being targeted by Syrian S-200s by giving the country’s territory a wide berth, and launching long range cruise and ballistic missiles from a distance. This tactic appears to have been similarly implemented in Iran, with only the service’s small fleet of F-35 stealth fighters known to have flown penetration missions into Iranian airspace. Although Syria reported multiple shootdowns of Israeli F-16s during strikes on its territory using in the 2010s S-200s, which were consistently denied by Israel, one such shootdown was confirmed in February 2018 after footage of the falling fighter was taken by Israeli civilians. Israeli F-15s and F-16s reportedly subsequently gave Syrian airspace a wider berth. In Iran’s case, the existence of a sizeable S-200 arsenal may also help keep Israeli fighters at bay until the country’s air defence network can be further softened.&nbsp;Although often overlooked due to its age, the protection provided by the S-200 may be a primary factor keeping Israeli fighters focused on missile strikes, and preventing them from launching bombing raids which could deliver ordinance in much greater quantities and far more efficiently.