Russian arms supplies to Syria:

GarryB wrote:In peace time it would take a year or two to master such a system, in the current conditions I suspect it will be interesting to see if they can get it to perform properly.

Such systems are very reliant on the tactics used and the quality of the people using it.

nemrod wrote:http://www.sana-syria.com/eng/22/2013/02/14/467212.htm

MOSCOW, (SANA) – A Russian military source said Syria received a batch of anti-aircraft missiles and Panzer-C1 air defense systems at the beginning of the current year.

The source said that the air defense systems were delivered in accordance with signed contracts between the two countries, pointing out that these systems were shipped to Syria by sea.

Anatoly Isaykin, Director of the Russian Rosoboronexport Firm, stressed that technical military cooperation with Syria is progressing under international law, indicating that his country exported air defense systems to Syria according to signed contracts.

Panzer-C1 air defense systems are highly accurate that could target all current and future air attack means available at an altitudeof 20 kilo meters high.

The speed of each missile is 1300 meters per second, as the system allows striking four targets at once. It also could hit land and marine targets, and is to direct its fire from mobile and fixed sites.

R. Milhem / H. Said

Russia is facing a ‘real war’ aimed at hampering the country’s legal deliveries of weapons to Syria, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation has said.

“A real war has been declared against us,” Alexander Fomin told Ekho Moskvy radio on Friday without specifying who has declared the war.

“The [Russian] ships are lured into ports and arrested there under various devised pretexts. When the ships are at sea, any insurance is canceled,” Fomin said adding that any attempts to deliver the contracted goods are being thwarted.

Russia earlier said it will continue selling weapons to Damascus observing both international law and bilateral obligations, while some western countries are pushing for an embargo on Russian arms supplies to Syria, the largest importer of Russian weapons in the Middle East.

Shipments of missiles to Syria could destabilize Israel - Kerry


John Kerry commented that appears in the media about the fact that Damascus allegedly paid the delivery of a Russian air defense systems S-300, the transfer of which the Syrian side could take place in the near future.


ROME, May 9 - RIA Novosti, Natalia Shmakova. sale Syrian missiles could be a destabilizing factor for the security of Israel, said on Thursday the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, commenting on the recent media information that Damascus allegedly paid the delivery of a Russian air defense systems S- 300, the transfer of which the Syrian side could take place in the near future.

"Previously, we stated that the missiles are a potentially destabilizing factor, especially for Israel" - Kerry said at a joint press conference in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino.

However, he stressed that for its part the United States would prefer that Russia did not provide military aid to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The newspaper Wall Street Journal on Thursday wrote that the Israeli authorities have warned the United States that Damascus allegedly began paying supplies from Russia six launchers and 144 missiles, the contract is estimated at $ 900 million. The agreement on the deal, according to the newspaper, was reached in 2010, and Syria recently made ​​its first payment for its execution.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that Russia completes delivery to Syria under the contract of air defense systems, but does not supply any weapons that could be used against the civilian population.



LINK

Putin explained to Netanyahu why Russia shipping S-300 missiles to Syria - Kremlin spokesman


LINK

Viktor wrote:Could get interesting in the coming months if something is not lost in the translation.

If someone pays subscription - post article in full.

If fresh media reports are true, Russia, Syria’s longtime supplier of military equipment, may soon provide Damascus – or already has – with advanced S-300 air defense systems, tipping the balance in the devastating 26-month conflict in the Middle Eastern country. But the “if” is a big one.
The missile batteries would give Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime a powerful weapon against foreign air strikes – one of the options being bounced around as a form of international intervention – and could fracture the fragile accord on Syria reached last week between Moscow and Washington, which hope to get the warring sides to negotiate.

But verifiable information about the S-300 deal is desperately scant: Was there a deal at all? What did it cover? Has any part of it been implemented? For now, what we know about the S-300 saga, from its origins to its implications, has been based on disappearing documents, anonymous sources, rumors, approximations and misunderstandings.
Here, RIA Novosti tries to unravel the mess and answer some of the big questions.

- Is there really a deal to sell Russian S-300 systems to Syria? How do we know?
Technically, it’s all hearsay. The only solid piece of evidence was a 2011 annual report by S-300’s manufacturer, the Nizhny Novgorod Machine Building Plant, which mentioned a contract for the missile systems for Syria. The report has since vanished from the plant’s website, but was cited by the respected Vedomosti business daily at the time as saying that the contract was worth $105 million and that an unspecified number of S-300 systems were slated for delivery between 2012 and early 2013.


All other reports have been based on leaks by unnamed intelligence and diplomatic sources, including, most recently, in the prominent Russian daily Kommersant and the Wall Street Journal, which said last week that the deal includes four S-300 batteries and 144 missiles and has a price tag of $900 million, with deliveries to begin, possibly, by late summer. (One S-300 missile system is estimated by experts to cost some $115 million, plus $1 million or so per missile.)

Damascus has never commented on the deal, and neither has the Russian arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport. The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly said Russia is following through on existing contracts to supply defensive weapons, including air defense systems, to Syria, but never says what precisely they are. The lack of clarity leaves room for wild guesses: Maybe the S-300 deal was never in the cards. Or maybe a number of complexes have already been shipped over the past two years, as some media reports alleged in December.

- Who decides whether the deal goes through? Can the international community or any third parties affect the sale?
The deal is strictly between Moscow and Damascus – which is to say, it’s all in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. International treaties on arms trade are few and far between, and tend to cover things like strategic weapons and cluster bombs, not air defense systems, however advanced they may be.

Meanwhile, all attempts to ban arms sales to Syria via the UN Security Council have been blocked by Russia. Of course, there is behind-the-scenes haggling and arm-twisting, but that’s unofficial.
- Why are the S-300s dangerous? They’ve been on the production line since 1978 – aren’t they outdated by now?
The S-300 systems have been modernized repeatedly to remain state-of-the-art airplane- and rocket-destruction machines. The S-300PMU2 Favorit can launch six missiles at once, each capable of destroying aircraft flying at several times the maximum speed of the F-16 and F-22 fighter jets – the staples of the Israeli and US air forces, respectively – as well as intercepting ballistic targets.


They can be suppressed or sabotaged by ground troops, but it is a tricky task. All this is to say, that the risk and cost of air attacks against Syria would rise dramatically.

- Who are the targets?
Not the Syrian rebels – they have no aircraft. And though you can technically reprogram the S-300 to hit ground targets, that would be akin to hammering nails with a tablet computer, given the price of $700,000 to $1.2 million per missile. However, any attempts by foreign powers to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria, as was done in Libya in 2011, would end in what Igor Korotchenko, the editor of the Moscow-based National Defense magazine, described as “dozens of destroyed aircraft and coffins covered by star-spangled banners. Unacceptable.”

- What’s the possible time frame? How long until Assad can shoot foreign fighter jets out of the sky?
The S-300 system deploys in five minutes – once it’s paid for, produced, tested, shipped, and manned by trained personnel. Some of this poses little problem: The Syrian government seems to have enough money in its pockets, and shipping from St. Petersburg to the Syrian port of Tartus takes about two weeks. That is, of course, provided the cargo does not get arrested in Finland, or the ship denied entry to European ports because its insurance was revoked – both true stories that happened to Russian ships reportedly carrying arms to Syria.

Still, it would likely take a while before Damascus actually gets any missiles. The Wall Street Journal claims – citing US sources citing Israeli sources – that the shipments may begin arriving by August, while the London-based,
Arab-language Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper said they are already in Syria, though still under Russian supervision. However, according to Russian arms experts, the manufacturer is unlikely to have ready-to-ship S-300 systems lying on the shelves: Whatever leftovers there were from a deal with Iran, scrapped in 2010, were long ago snatched up by other customers such as Algeria, according to Ruslan Pukhov of the Center for Analysis of Strategy and Technologies, a for-profit research group in Moscow. This means the systems would need to be produced and test launches conducted, a job that would take about a year, Pukhov said. Furthermore, dozens or even hundreds of staff would have to be trained to operate the complicated machinery, which should take about six months. This would push Assad’s most optimistic deadline of owning fully operable S-300 complexes to November at best, with spring of 2014 being a more realistic estimate.

S-300 Air Defense: Don't Expect Russia to Stop Shipping Arms to Assad

Syria agreed to purchase four S-300 antiaircraft missile batteries from Russia in 2010 for $900 million. The first shipment could come in three months and the final one by the end of the year. Syrian air defenses are already five times more sophisticated than Libya’s and 10 times more sophisticated than what NATO faced in Serbia.

Full article below
http://www.policymic.com/articles/40975/s-300-air-defense-don-t-expect-russia-to-stop-shipping-arms-to-assad

Viktor wrote:Could get interesting in the coming months if something is not lost in the translation.

If someone pays subscription - post article in full.

Putin explained to Netanyahu why Russia shipping S-300 missiles to Syria - Kremlin spokesman


LINK

They should have been shipped a lot earlier actually. It would make a foreign intervention less likely and hopefully lead to meaningful talks.

Cyberspec wrote:Personally I think it's great news if confirmed. They should have been shipped a lot earlier actually. It would make a foreign intervention less likely and hopefully lead to meaningful talks.

For those whining about supplying a dictator... he was elected you moron... how about the US stops supplying weapons to terrorists that are know to include Al Quada and Chechen separatists responsible for much worse.

Russia has promised to deliver to Syria MiG-29


The Russian MiG-29 will be delivered by Syria in accordance with the contract. On it informs "Interfax" referring to the CEO of the corporation "MiG" Sergei Korotkov.

According to him, to discuss the details of the contract for combat aircraft specially arrived Syrian delegation. "I think they will be delivered to Syria," - said Korotkov. He added that he planned to put about 10 MiG-29M (singles) and MiG-29M2 (doubles). Terms of the contract Korotkov did not elaborate.

In 2007, Syria has ordered 24 Russian military aircraft MiG-29, but they are delivered so far have not been as on the regime of Bashar al-Assad have been introduced to international sanctions. Some of them in this regard, it was decided to sell to other countries, such as Serbia.

In the summer of 2012 it was reported that Russia has postponed the delivery to Syria 20 combat helicopters Mi-25 to "normalcy" in the country. An informed source "Interfax" then stated that Moscow is concerned over the deteriorating situation in Syria and opposition to military activity, in which the Syrian authorities "can not guarantee safe acceptance of helicopters."

March 1, 2013 the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Alexander Fomin complained that Western countries are blocking all attempts to Russia to fulfill the agreement signed with Syria. "We have announced a very real undeclared war: our sea and air transport is arrested, under various pretexts, lured to the ports is blocked ... that is blocking any attempt to deliver the contracted goods "- then said Fomin.

The confrontation between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the opposition, which grew into a civil war going on in Syria since the spring of 2011. Russia in the conflict and trying to support Assad to give them financial and technical support, causing dissatisfaction Western countries supporting the opposition.


LINK

GarryB wrote:I am saying this because the US is not really treating Syria with any real respect and perhaps if they have the capacity to stop interventions then it will make the US more inclined to talk rather than bomb.

Viktor wrote:EU lifted arms embargo on Syrian bandits

Cyberspec wrote:Not that long ago (early 2000's), Israeli fighters were breaking the sound barrier over Damascus...

What. The US doesn't seem to be in a mood to do much of anything.

Les missiles S-300 russes et la neutralisation de la suprématie militaire américaine par Valentin Vasilescu
Pourquoi les États-Unis, Israël et l’UE ont-ils réagi si violemment au sujet de la livraison par la Russie des missiles S-300 à la Syrie? En fait, une ou plusieurs batteries de missiles anti-aériens ne peuvent rien changer quant au déroulement de la guerre civile en Syrie. Surtout avec la décision de l’UE, la Grande-Bretagne, la France et d’autres pays occidentaux membres de l’OTAN de fournir aux rebelles armés syriens des systèmes d’armes similaires. Alors, pourquoi Les Russes ne veulent-ils, en aucun cas, renoncer à armer l’Armée Syrienne avec des S-300 ?

Pour comprendre ce que cette livraison d’armes signifie pour les occidentaux, il faut préciser que le secret du succès des campagnes militaires des États-Unis et d’Israël au cours des 20 dernières années, a été fondée sur la possession et l’utilisation d’un antidote universel appelé ESM / ELINT (électronic Support Measures). Ce type d’équipement permet l’enregistrement et l’analyse des émissions des radars de détection et de contrôle des systèmes d’armes de l’ennemi et de les neutraliser par brouillage. Cela permet ainsi à leur propre aviation un maximum de liberté d’action et la possibilité d’effectuer, sans pertes, toutes les missions de frappes sur des cibles air, mer et terre.

L’élément nouveau dans le scénario classique des occidentaux, c’est que la Russie a fourni à l’armée syrienne les lanceurs de missile S-300 dotés d’un système très complexe intégrant le C4I pouvant détecter les cibles, avec une gestion automatisée de feu. Avant de servir au lancement et au guidage de missiles S-300, le système assure une surveillance efficace de l’espace aérien syrien et au-delà ses frontières par un réseau de radars fixes de basse fréquence de dernière génération, résistant au brouillage et aux attaques de missiles antiradar. A cela s’ajoute un réseau supplémentaire de radars mobiles, du type 1L119-Nebo, fonctionnant dans la bande de fréquence VHF.

En plus de ces deux réseaux automatisés de surveillance de l’espace aérien, s’ajoute un autre élément destiné à la détection, la poursuite et l’attaque de toute source de brouillage ESM / ELINT des occidentaux (électronic Support Measures) monté sur des avions ou sur des navires de guerre.

En pratique, avec l’exportation croissante ces nouveaux systèmes d’armes dans le monde par la Russie, les Etats-Unis, ses alliés de l’OTAN et Israël ne pourront plus imposer de soi-disant « zone d’exclusion aérienne » comme ils l’ont fait en Yougoslavie, en Irak et en Libye. Ils ne pourront pas plus prendre le risque d’une invasion terrestre avec utilisation de la flotte militaire et de l’infanterie de marines.

Comment les Russes ont-ils réussi à concevoir et à fabriquer ce type de technologie, dans les conditions de l’effondrement de l’URSS et de déclin économique, alors que l’avantage technologique détenue par les États-Unis face à la Russie, a permis à l’Armée américaine de mener avec succès des guerres en Yougoslavie, en Irak, et en Afghanistan contre des armées équipés de matériel de guerre Soviétique? Quel pouvait être l’élément qui conférait à l’armement américain une telle suprématie ? La réponse est : le C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence).

C4I est un concept moderne, le seul moyen actuel pour multiplier jusqu’à 10 fois la mobilité, la vitesse de réaction, l’efficacité et la précision technique dans les guerres conventionnelles, basé sur l’utilisation extensive de la dernière génération de microprocesseur et de matériel de communication, intégrant des capteurs de détection et de guidage des armes. Pour rattraper les Américains, la Russie a mis en place une agence de recherche pour la défense similaire à Defense Advanced Research Projects du Pentagone (DARPA, créé en 1958 suite au lancement du satellite Spoutnik par l’Union soviétique), qui s’occupe de la recherche sur les risques scientifiques, et la recherche et développements sur les dernières découvertes pour l’industrie militaire Russie.

Si on examine attentivement comment, le 27 Mars 1999, a été abattu un avion « furtif » américain F-117 à Budjanovci en Yougoslavie par le système S-125 (Neva / Petchora), on constate que l’Agence russe de recherche pour la Défense a trouvé et mis en œuvre une solution technique de détection et de destruction de ce type d’appareils et des missiles de croisière. Mais pour atteindre les performances technologiques des Etats-Unis, il faudra attendre 2008, lors de la guerre avec la Géorgie. Avant le conflit, l’armée géorgienne avait reçu, de la société américaine L-3 GCS (Leader du marché des équipements électroniques miniaturisés) et des israéliens, les systèmes C4I les plus modernes. Au lendemain de la guerre de 2008, l’armée russe a mis la main sur une grande partie des équipements C4I détenus par l’armée géorgienne, puis les a analysés, copiés et multipliés. Les composants high-tech qui en ont résulté furent largement intégrés dans la production des nouveaux systèmes d’armes ou dans la modernisation de celles déjà existantes.

Le système modulaire C4I permet la création de réseaux tactiques de communication par l’intégration dans une plateforme telle qu’un véhicule militaire en mouvement. Il permet l’affichage et la mise à jour automatiquement de la situation tactique sur consoles avec des cartes numériques, la gestion des contrôles, les rapports de combats et la situation de la logistique (les besoins en munitions, carburant, etc), ou de surveiller l’état de préparation et de fonctionnement des systèmes d’armement. Le système C4I permet, également, d’assurer la collecte, la transmission par satellite et l’analyse des Informations au format standard de l’OTAN en temps réel grâce à des capteurs placés aux avant-postes en première ligne, et grâce aux systèmes AGS (Alliance Ground Surveillance), destinés à l’observation / suivi électronique du terrain par des moyens satellitaires et de drones performant. Toutes les informations sont dirigées vers le poste de commandement mobile au niveau de la compagnie, du bataillon ou de la brigade. Ainsi, il est possible de connaître la situation sur le plan tactique, la gestion du champ de bataille, de faciliter la prise de décision par le commandement.

C4I permet aussi la transmission et la réception audio et vidéo avec un équipement sans fil, dans des conditions sécurisées, une grande quantité de données à haut débit telles que la voix et des données numériques, en présence de brouillage. Ses éléments disposent d’installations de mémoire, accèdent à leurs propres serveurs gérés par de puissants processeurs de dernière génération, et couvrent le spectre entier des fréquences, et sont sécurisés par un cryptage numérique.

Valentin Vasilescu

Ancien commandant-adjoint des forces militaires à l’Aéroport Otopeni (Roumanie)