Russia to Launch Air Defense Service Center in Iran

Russia will set up an after-sales service center for the maintenance of air defense systems in Iran, Vladimir Kozhin, presidential aide for defense industry cooperation, said on Monday. “We are creating a special service center in Iran, to which we have supplied our air defense systems,” Kozhin said in an interview with Rossiya-24 TV channel, Sputnik reported. The cooperation on establishing service centers will develop in the future, he added. According to Kozhin, Moscow will develop a global network of its service centers that will focus on the maintenance of Russian military equipment. “We have always had a weak point in our defense industry—the maintenance-related issues. We have been able and are able to produce amazing equipment, to sell it, to fulfill a contract, but we had problems with service… A big group of our defense industry producers that are able to conduct maintenance activities of their equipment has entered the market… It significantly changes the situation.” Iran took delivery of the S-300 defense missile system in July 2016. The Iranian military successfully tested the Russian-made surface-to-air defense system in March 2017.