Direct proof of use
The 30N6 engagement-radar family appears in the 2024 Iran-Israel Exchange through Iran's S-300 air-defense site near Isfahan. CSIS assessed that Israel's April 19, 2024 strike probably destroyed a single 30N6 Flap Lid or 30N6E Tomb Stone engagement radar, citing satellite imagery damage at the position where the engagement radar normally sat.
Associated Press reporting on Planet Labs imagery also identified damage at a Russian-made S-300 air-defense battery near Isfahan's dual-use airport and air base. AP reported burn marks around a site analysts had previously identified as the Flap Lid radar used with the S-300, while the Institute for Science and International Security separately assessed high-resolution Airbus imagery as showing damage to an S-300 mobile radar at Eighth Shekari Air Base.
Sources: CSIS Assessing Israel's Strike on Iran, AP Iran S-300 Radar Hit, ISIS Esfahan Strike Assessment
Timeline
Iran launched a large drone and missile attack against Israel on April 13-14, 2024. U.S. defense reporting described more than 300 airborne weapons launched from Iran and proxy locations, with U.S., Israeli, and partner forces intercepting many of them.
On April 19, Israel carried out a limited response near Isfahan. The radar-specific record begins with that strike: subsequent imagery assessments located damage at the S-300 engagement-radar position, making the 30N6/30N6E radar a documented Iranian air-defense component in the exchange rather than merely a background S-300 inventory item.
Sources: DOD Iranian Airborne Attacks, CSIS Assessing Israel's Strike on Iran, AP Iran S-300 Radar Hit
Narrative
The radar's documented role was defensive: it was part of an Iranian S-300 battery deployed around Isfahan, a central Iranian area associated with military air-base infrastructure and nearby nuclear facilities. The evidence does not show the radar firing a weapon itself; it shows an S-300 engagement-radar component fielded by Iran and then struck during Israel's response phase.
CSIS described the damaged system as the shortest-range radar in the air-defense complex and characterized it as a radar used to guide interceptor missiles rather than to search for threats over long distances. That distinction fits the 30N6 family's catalog role as an S-300 engagement and missile-guidance radar.
The public record remains centered on imagery and official or reported strike context. Iran publicly minimized the April 19 incident, but AP and the Institute for Science and International Security reported visible post-strike damage at the S-300 radar position, and CSIS assessed the damaged radar as a 30N6 Flap Lid or 30N6E Tomb Stone.
Sources: CSIS Assessing Israel's Strike on Iran, AP Iran S-300 Radar Hit, ISIS Esfahan Strike Assessment
