Iran displays another new SHORAD system

The Tondar SHORAD system. (defapress.ir)

A new short-range air defence (SHORAD) system called the Tondar was unveiled during an exercise held by the Iranian Air Defence Force on 13 January.

Photographs showed the system has four missile canisters fitted to a swivel launcher mounted on the back of an Aras 4×4 pick-up. A missile seen in a canister had a silver nose cone, which is usually associated with an imaging infrared guidance (IIR) system.

The photographs did not show the target tracking sensor that is likely mounted on the launcher between the missile cannisters, although an antenna could be seen protruding from that area, possibly for a datalink to steer a missile towards the target until its IIR seeker is close enough to lock on.

The missile canister used with the Tondar may have been seen before on an unidentified SHORAD system that a social media photograph showed was deployed in Tehran for the funeral of assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on 1 August 2024, although the launcher was different.

No performance figures for the Tondar were released, although Iranian media reported that a Shahid Jalilvand radar detected targets for Tondar and Majid SHORAD systems during the exercise.

Also mounted on an Aras vehicle, the Shahid Jalilvand was unveiled in September 2023. Stated to have a range of 15 km, the Majid was unveiled in 2021 and has a rotating electro-optical system for detecting and tracking targets. It has been shown mounted on an Aras and on what appeared to be a flatbed Iveco Daily 4x4 van. The latter configuration appears to have been used in the exercise, although the system's cab was concealed by a camouflage net.