Iran upscales defenses in ceasefire

Since the ceasefire has been implemented, Iran has upgraded it short range Air defences ( SHORAD) .It has made improvement in the the Qaem-118 (also spelled Ghaem-118), which were mainly used against MALE drones and were highly effective .

The Qaem-118 is an air defence system that uses three simultaneous tracking methods: radar, electro-optical, and thermal (infrared). This gives it the capability to operate in passive mode. It can detect stealthily targets without emitting radar signals.
During the 2 weeks of the ceasefire , Iranian engineers upgraded the software with updates to the system’s processors to improve signal filtering, after analyzing radar and heat data collected during confrontations with F-35s and MQ-9 drones in the weeks before the ceasefire.

Additionally, they implemented datalink integration to connect the Qaem-118 to mobile radar systems, receiving the enemy target’s position via radio and activating its own sensors only in the final second before launch thereby limiting the amount of time they are susceptible to be identified by enemy aircraft or detection systems .

Iran has also upgraded the 358 and 359 missile which loiters at low speeds to be able to engage enemy drones . Engineers upgraded the the image recognition algorithm .

Modern drones systems used by Israel like the MQ9 reaper drones have a reduced heat signature to avoid detection . the software updates applied to the 358 better enable it to detect lower heat signatures and smaller temperature differences against the background sky .

The missile systems have also been upgraded to integrate with mobile radars like the Qaem-118 .

With these updates, the 358 and 359 missile do not need to be launched blind but with the integration with short- and medium-range mobile ground radars, the 358 can be fired with exact coordinates .

The missile flies there in relative silence and its thermal seeker is only activated once it is already in the kill zone.
Iran emphasizes that this integration has been possible in a very short timeframe because these SHORAD systems already use compatible communication protocols.

In the 15 days, physical installation of datalink kits and antennas that had not yet been distributed to all front-line units even though they were in stockhas now been done on a significant scale.

The 359 is another surface to air loitering munition which was unveiled in January 2025 . It is an upgrade variant of the 358 but is built on the the Tolou-10 turbojet engine , which makes it significantlyfaster than the original 358. It has the capability to operate above 9,000 meters, there fore putting large aircraft such as refueling tankers and radar planes (AWACS) that fly at altitudes the 358 could not efficiently reach within its rage.

Additionally , it has a range of up to 150 km and has ditched the complex laser proximity sensors of the 358 in favor of a more powerful warhead and significantly more modern thermal imaging guidance systems focused on ignoring countermeasures like (flares) thereby increasing the odds of a successful hit.

All these improvements and the increase in deployed units may reduce the aerial superiority that the Americans and Israelis have enjoyed since the beginning of the war.

It may be what the Iranians are calling the “little surprise.”