Russia is going to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Iran....

[kentuck]

(I heard this mentioned in an article on C-SPAn this am)

It's good to see that the Middle East is becoming stabilized and democratized. But there's no reason to suspect that those missiles might find their way into southern Iraq or other hotspots. Since the US plans on pulling back the troops and using mostly airstrikes against the insurgents, it seems the Russians might be wise to that game?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. As long as Russia doesn't sell them to the "terrorists", there should

be no ICBM's dropping on Russia any time soon. Then again, Russia was (I thought) selling missiles to Venezuela and perhaps Syria, so perhaps they had better keep their radar tweaked.

[Doctor_J]

3. Pooty-poot's been getting ready for WWIII

ever since Smirk took office. He is a brilliant, diabolical, world-class politician (in the perjorative sense of the word) who could sense immediately that * is nothing but a grinning dunce who doesn't care what's going on in the world as long as it doesn't affect his naps or his photo-ops.

:scared:

[quaoar]

2. Are they fixed site missiles

or the shoulder-launched variety like Stingers?

[CHIMO]

6. Some Details

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

[Pavulon]

7. Fixed Pos

Weapon is state of the art russian.

Low to medium altitude system. Designed for site protection. Like enrichment sites for Uranium.

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

[quaoar]

8. OK

But those are radar-guided and thus vulnerable once they try to light up a target. But better than the garbage Saddam had that never scored a kill in the entire No-Fly Zone Era.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. Payback is a bitch.

[Pavulon]

5. Future headline..

Us loans F-117s to Israel.
For every yin there is a yang.

An air defense grid us useless against what it can't see.

[kentuck]

9. You may be right...

Sounds like we are going back to another arms race.....