Monday, June 10, 2013

Iran Says It Sets Up Space Monitoring Center


Iran said Sunday that it set up its first space tracking center to monitor objects passing in orbit overhead. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the facility near the town of Delijan some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Tehran.

Ahmadinejad said the center will help the country to manage “activities of satellites” but was also capable of monitoring “very remote space.” (IRNA/AP, 10 June)

Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said the center was for Iran's space-related security but that Tehran would also share the acquired data with other countries.

“The center is aimed at securing the country's space facilities and monitoring space objects especially satellites that pass overhead,” Vahidi said. He added that the center used radar, electro-optic and radio tracking. (IRNA/AP, 10 June)

The establishment of center, as claimed, is a major breakthrough for Iran’s space program. The country has nine command and control ground stations for its space program including one outside its territory in Syria. In a high-profile space announcements, Iran said in February that it send a monkey into space. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scottie, Beam "Ahmadinejad" up !!

Anonymous said...

Actually I had posted about this development and integrated Iranian aerospace command that covers all of the Middle east and Europe with multiple satellites and long-range BVR radars and this report has just confirmed what all knowledgeable defence observers knew all along. Iran has set up a very sophisticated ELINT base in Syria and is capable of monitoring even a kite from the kikes in Occupied Palestine.

TEHRAN, Iran) -- Iran said Sunday that it set up its first space tracking center to monitor objects passing in orbit overhead, the breakthrough will be a quantum leap for Islamic Republic in its space program.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who inaugurated the facility near the town of Delijan some 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Tehran, said the center will help the country to manage "activities of satellites" but was also capable of monitoring "very remote space," according to the official IRNA press agency.

Iran says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, improve telecommunications and expand military surveillance in the region. The U.S. and its allies worry that the same technology could also be used to develop long-range missiles. Iran already possesses a range of very powerful missiles capable of hitting targets and over the Middle East and Europe.

Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi said the center was for Iran's space-related security but that Tehran would also share the acquired data with other allied countries, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The base is aimed at securing the country's space facilities and monitoring space objects especially satellites that pass overhead," Vahidi was quoted as saying.

The country has nine command and control ground stations for its space program including one in Syria, the country's main Arab regional ally. The rest are located mainly in the central and southern parts of the country.

Vahidi said the Delijan center used radar, electro-optic and radio tracking.

It is expected that these bases will be linked to the integrated Iranian aerospace defence command and long range radars that scan the region.

Anonymous said...

Iran steps up support for victorious Syrian military

UNITED NATIONS - Iran has significantly stepped up military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in recent months, solidifying its position alongside Russia as the government's prime allies in an winding down strife, Western diplomats said.

Iranian weapons continue to pour into Syria from Iraq but also increasingly along other routes, including via Turkey and Lebanon. Turkey beset by internal unrest has switched sides and has restricted the movements of Salafi terrorists in its territory and has recently arrested many terrorist leaders, including a group claimed to be making chemical weapons. Iraqi and Turkish officials have denied the western allegations that they are allowing the passage of men and material for the resurgent forces of President Assad.

Iran's acceleration of support for Assad suggests the Syrian war is entering a new phase in which Iran may be trying to end the battlefield stalemate by redoubling its commitment to Assad and offering Syria's increasingly confident government a crucial knockout blow capability, the envoys said.

It also highlights the growing sectarian nature of the conflict, diplomats say, with more sophisticated Iranian arms flowing to the Shia militant group Hezbollah, which has turned the tables in President Assad's favor. Hezbollah is increasingly active on the ground in Syria in support of Assad's forces and is a military game-changer, envoys say.

"The Iranians really are supporting massively the regime," a senior intelligence analyst said this week. "They have been increasing their support for the last three, four months through Iraq's airspace and now trucks. And the Iraqis really are looking the other way or actively sending in their own supplies and militias as well."

"They (Iran) are playing now a crucial role," the senior diplomat said, adding that Hezbollah was "hardly hiding the support it's giving to the (Syrian) regime."

He added that the Syrian civil war was becoming "more and more sectarian," with Saudi recruited Salafis now accounting for the majority of anti-Assad terrorist groups- an increasing number of whom come from Iraq and the Maghreb - battling Shia and members of Assad's Alawite sect, an branch of Shia Islam.

Russia, diplomats said, also remained a key arms supplier for Assad. Syria nor Russia is subject to any U.N. ban on arms trade and are therefore not in violation of any U.N. rules when conducting weapons commerce.

Assad's ally Russia criticizes U.S., European and Persian Gulf puppet Arab governments for their aid to Salafi terrorists seeking to topple Assad in vain for the last two years.

Once in Syria, it is claimed that the arms were distributed to government forces and allied militia, including Hezbollah.

"The equipment being transferred by both companies (Iran and Mahan Air) ... ranges from communications equipment to light arms and advanced strategic weapons, some of which are being used devastatingly by Hezbollah and the Syrian forces against the Salafi terrorists," said the intelligence report.

"The more sophisticated gear includes parts for various hardware such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), shore-to-sea missiles and surface-to-surface ballistic missiles (SSMs)and man portable SAM systems," the report said. "Other weapons are being used by Syrian security forces, pro-Assad shabbiha militiamen, and Lebanese Hezbollah units."

mat said...

You name it.