S300 Air Defense System According to reliable sources, at least one shipment of Russian-made NPO Almaz S-300 missiles has been trans...
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| S300 Air Defense System |
According to reliable sources, at least one shipment of Russian-made NPO Almaz S-300 missiles has been transferred to Syria.
If true, these S-300 missile batteries would give Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime a powerful detterance against foreign air strikes.
Israel is particularly concerned by the deployment of the missiles as the S-300 is reportedly able to overcome the self-defences abroad its fighter jets.
The S-300 system is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded, although not combat proven.
The system's radar is able to simultaneously track up to 100 targets while engaging up to 12. Deployment time for the S-300 is five minutes, and they have a very long life span due to canisterisation, with no maintenance needed.
On May 14 Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Moscow to urge Russian president Vladimir Putin to halt the transfer of these state-of-the-art anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, but Moscow rejected Israeli plea.
On May 16 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended the arms sale, claiming that these missiles are defensive systems and not offensive. In a statement that observers see as a veiled warning to Israel and the U.S., he said “Those who do not plan aggressive actions against a sovereign state have nothing to worry about, because air defense methods - and this is clear from the name - are a purely defensive system required to repel air attacks.”
The S-300 is designed to shoot down planes and missiles at 125-mile (200-km) ranges, at an altitude of 30 km. It would supplement Syria's current Russian-supplied now obsolete S-200 air defense system.
The S-300 missile is 7 metres long and weighs 1.5 ton. It's armed with a warhead weighing more than 70kg.
The Syrian strategic Surface to Air Missile (SAM) network relies primarily on Soviet-era systems.
The Syrian Air Defense Force controls twenty-five air defense brigades, each with six SAM batteries, and is one of the densest air defense networks in the region, than that of Iran.
Syria ordered four S-300 batteries from Russia for $900 million, in 2007.
The package included six launchers and 144 missiles.
But it is doubtful whether the Syrian military currently would be able to absorb these complex systems. Integration of such systems requires, significant operational training spanning years, establish facilities for operation and maintenance. Furthermore, it is doubtful about Syrian capabilities to secure these systems from Israeli sensors during transit.
Russia has already delivered Pantsyr-S1 short range mobile air defense system, for protection of mobile forces and point targets in 2009.
If deployed, it would be a quantum leap in Syria’s air defense capability and pose a strong challenge to any possible aerial adventure from Israel and US.
Israel also fears that, these advanced Russian weapons could fall into the hands of Hezbollah, a key Syrian ally in neighboring Lebanon.
