China considered giving Iran an advanced X-band radar system early on in the conflict, according to reports. This comes amid reports that Russia shared intelligence with Iran on American military positions across the Middle East.
Analysts at the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's arm for military intelligence, got evidence that Beijing considered providing Tehran with the said system that woould help Iran to detect and track incoming threats, like low-flying drones and cruise missiles. It could help protect its air defence systems against advanced strikes, according to a report by CBS News.
Though it is unclear whether China decided to move forward with transfering the air defence system, it shows that regional adversaries of the US were willing to help Iran, the report quoted unnamed officials. Earlier, there were unconfirmed reports that Beijing is working to route military hardware through third countries to mask their true origin. But, this was said to be shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs.
The report has, however, shed light on China’s advanced X-band radar system, which was revealed to the world last year when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a missile defence test in the Gobi Desert. In the test, 6 ballistic missiles were fired on a single target to test the new dual-band (S/X) system, which detected and intercepted all the missiles.
The system achieved what the Chinese military scientists described as “early detection, precision measurement and accurate reporting”.
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The technology is similar to the US Navy’s USNS Howard O. Lorenzen missile-tracking ship that combines wide-area surveillance (S-band) with high-resolution targeting (X-band).
China at that time revealed that the radar not only tracks conventional ballistic missiles but also helps to distinguish decoys from actual warheads. It also possess mid-flight countermeasures like jamming or submunition dispersal. “The radar’s ability to maintain continuous tracking of 31 decoys and secondary targets, while simultaneously prioritising seven high-value threats” shows a leap in anti-saturation capabilities, the paper said.