U.S. checking reports of Russian missile deal

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-02-iran-missiles_x.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — A report that Russia struck a deal to provide Iran with surface-to-air missiles would be a source of concern if confirmed, the Bush administration said Friday.

A Russian newspaper reported Friday the two countries signed a deal for 29 Tor M-1 missiles.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "We are at this point evaluating these reports" and that he could not validate them.

A senior administration official, who declined to be named, said he did not know if the report was true but that any arms sale to Iran is a source of concern. The official declined to say whether Russia had advised the United States of any negotiations with Iran.

... the US invading their air space.

Better open up your wallets, taxpayers. Global Hawk drones are kind of expensive to replace....

Pity the US isn't getting a profit it from it, maybe that's where the "concern" is.

An in-depth look at the Russian press, December 2
14:44 | 02/ 12/ 2005

MOSCOW, December 2, RIA Novosti

Moscow will sell the Tor M-1 (SA-15 Gauntlet) surface-to-air missile, capable of intercepting cruise missiles and aircraft bombs, to Iran. This contract does not violate any of the Kremlin's international commitments.

"Several days ago, Russia and Iran signed a contract for the delivery of Tor M-1 SAM systems," a defense factory manager said. "This concerns missiles that were produced on a previous Greek contract," an air defense industry official added. In total, Athens bought 21 Tor M-1 systems and had the right to purchase another 29. However, it decided to scrap the deal in the late 1990s.

"In 2000, Moscow withdrew from a Russian-U.S. agreement that restricted arms deliveries to Iran," Mikhail Barabanov, the science editor of Arms Exports magazine, said. "Consequently, it was believed that Iran would become the third largest importer of Russian combat hardware after China and India. But Tehran spent no more than $300-$400 million on Russian weaponry because it was not sure whether Moscow could implement its military-technical policies without asking for Washington's advice."

"The sale of Tor M-1 missiles to Iran should be viewed as a purely commercial operation because they are tactical weapons," Vagif Guseinov, director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments and Analysis, said. "Iran must defend the Bushehr nuclear power plant, due to be completed by Russia by 2007, because Israel has repeatedly said that it was examining a possible preventive strike against the facility," Professor Sergei Druzhilovsky of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), said.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20051202/42292362.html

Seems to be a very good, up to date point defense system.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/sa-15.htm

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/row/sa-15.htm