Syrian Arab Army (SAA)

Additional tanks T-62M from Russia delivered to Syria

Judging by the photos that appeared on August 18 and 20, 2017 on the unofficial page of the 11th Armored Division of the Syrian Arab Army (AAA) at www.facebook.com, this division received from Russia the next batch of modernized medium-sized T-62M tanks.

Recall that, according to known data, the supply of TDA-62M tanks from the storage of the Ministry of Defense of Russia have been implemented since the end of 2015.



http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2799417.html

Differences between Iran and Russia regarding the future appearance of the Syrian army

According to the French bulletin Intelligence online in the article "Damas, tiraille entre milices iraniennes et reassurance russe", during the summit, which took place on August 28, 2017 with the participation of representatives of the General Staff of the Syrian Arab Army, as well as its Iranian and Russian patrons, were Deep contradictions on strategic issues between Russian and Iranian representatives regarding further actions were revealed.

Thus, according to the source of the bulletin, familiar with the course of the talks, this meeting was held in the Syrian Defense Ministry with the participation of the commanders of the Russian and Iranian contingents fighting on the side of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). Syrian President's brother Bashar Assad's brother, Maher Asad, who is the commander of the Republican Guard, and Ali Abdullah Ayub, the chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Arab Republic, and Kassem Suleymani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, took part in the meeting. Suleimani fiercely insisted on changing the strategy, which he claims since 2016.

In addition to creating a large paramilitary structure - the Syrian analogue of IRGC, which can be called the "Guard of the Republic", Sulejamni looks forward to the creation of a new autonomous military structure into which the remains of the regular Syrian army will flow. Moreover, Suleymani would like this structure to rely heavily on a militia formation, modeled after the Iranian militia of the Basijs. This militia, which will largely consist of Iraqi Shiites, Afghan Hazaras and members of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, will make it possible to include armed groups from these peoples in the Syrian army.

But during this meeting, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoy, who is the commander of Russian operations in Syria, strongly disagreed with the Iranian proposal. The Kremlin is a supporter of the approach within which it is planned to preserve the existing structure by re-equipping some of the army corps of the SAA with new technology. In particular, Rudskoy argues for the strengthening of the Syrian land forces by elite units. The Russian general insisted on turning to private Russian military companies for the protection of strategic facilities on Syrian territory. This will free Russian troops for more important theaters of military operations.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/2841246.html

Syria OTR 21 Tochka ballistic missiles SRBM brigade گردان موشک بالستیک توچکا سوریه

Even though the war isn't over yet but it's been going on for over 6 yrs now I think everyone on this forum has a view on what equipment has served the SAA and Russian armed forces the best and what hasn't. So I thought it would be great to start a thread on the subject hopefully there won't be too much squabbling/disagreement lol.

My personal opinion the following has been a great success in terms of reliability and effectiveness. (I will focus mainly on SAA)

T-55
T-62
BMP-1&2
Mig-21
Mig-23
Su-22
Mi-24/35
2S1
BM-21
M-46 130mm
Zu-23-2
Zpu- 1/2/4
Zsu-23-4
Malyutka /AT-3 sagger
Konkurs / AT-5 spandrel
SPG-9
RPG-7
Tos-1

From list above most would agree these designs are pretty old and in western armed forces views out dated (apart from Tos-1). But what the Syrian conflict has proven is that in this type of conflict and length of conflict that you don't need modern systems and that older equipment and cheap equipment has been more suited to this type of conflict and even systems that were meant for a different purpose can be used effectively in a different role for example anti aircraft guns mounted on pickups/trucks and zsu 23-4 ground support role haven proven to be very deadly. And vehicles such as T-55 who's main gun would be useless against modern armour has proven to be the mainstay of the SAA reliable and cheap ammo has made it effective at destroying buildings and armour in this conflict then we have the M-46 artillery piece which is still proving to be reliable and durable despite the number of rounds it's had to fire. But I think a special mention has to made for the aircraft despite being outdated and worn have proven to be extremely vital to them mi-24, Su -22, mig-23 & mig-21 as well as a handful of L-39 and gazelle helicopters and a worthy mention of mi-8 transport heli's but the one I think deserves the most praise is the Mig - 21 mainly due to the age of the aircraft, reliability, and number of sorties and despite all this it's still going strong and proving to be useful.

It's a real shame that there wasn't footage/pics or mention of Tulpan, 160mm mortar, zsu-57-2, and s-23 180mm as Syria does have them and I am sure they would have been used. Also no mention of bdrm-2, Btr60/70 or PT-76 all could have been useful for recent river crossing no bridge needed. Another less seen vehicle is the MT-LB and I am pretty sure that many of them have been used with various creations mounted on top would have been great to see some pics.

Anyway what's your views?

Ural 4320 with mounted 23mm ZU-23-2 in Syria

George1 wrote:Differences between Iran and Russia regarding the future appearance of the Syrian army

According to the French bulletin Intelligence online in the article "Damas, tiraille entre milices iraniennes et reassurance russe", during the summit, which took place on August 28, 2017 with the participation of representatives of the General Staff of the Syrian Arab Army, as well as its Iranian and Russian patrons, were Deep contradictions on strategic issues between Russian and Iranian representatives regarding further actions were revealed.

 Thus, according to the source of the bulletin, familiar with the course of the talks, this meeting was held in the Syrian Defense Ministry with the participation of the commanders of the Russian and Iranian contingents fighting on the side of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). Syrian President's brother Bashar Assad's brother, Maher Asad, who is the commander of the Republican Guard, and Ali Abdullah Ayub, the chief of the General Staff of the Syrian Arab Republic, and Kassem Suleymani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, took part in the meeting. Suleimani fiercely insisted on changing the strategy, which he claims since 2016.

In addition to creating a large paramilitary structure - the Syrian analogue of IRGC, which can be called the "Guard of the Republic", Sulejamni looks forward to the creation of a new autonomous military structure into which the remains of the regular Syrian army will flow. Moreover, Suleymani would like this structure to rely heavily on a militia formation, modeled after the Iranian militia of the Basijs. This militia, which will largely consist of Iraqi Shiites, Afghan Hazaras and members of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, will make it possible to include armed groups from these peoples in the Syrian army.

But during this meeting, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoy, who is the commander of Russian operations in Syria, strongly disagreed with the Iranian proposal. The Kremlin is a supporter of the approach within which it is planned to preserve the existing structure by re-equipping some of the army corps of the SAA with new technology. In particular, Rudskoy argues for the strengthening of the Syrian land forces by elite units. The Russian general insisted on turning to private Russian military companies for the protection of strategic facilities on Syrian territory. This will free Russian troops for more important theaters of military operations.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/2841246.html

I'm late to this discussion here but I want to give my 2 cents worth.

I would wager the Russian idea is better as we have seen how IRGC trained groups like the NDF handle themselves. We heard about all the Iranian IRGC units who have perished. I think the IRGC is doing the best they can but I would wager their entire apparatus is rather dated and their methods are not nearly efficient enough. It has shown/proven that special forces units within Syria are the best bang for your buck units. Tiger forces, ISIS hunters and other special forces units have been doing a huge amount of the successful operations (not saying SAA don't but nothing compared to efficiency of the specops), and I think having a military that consists quite a few special forces units and the backbone of the SAA being support for them, is ideal. I can see Hezbollah and IRGC trained special forces units within the SAA but I don't see a similar approach to IRGC altogether.

I think the structure is fine as is but there needs to be significantly more training, better equipment (maybe not so much better but more night fighting capabilities, new counter insurgency capabilities, etc).

Very rare footage of the direct work of the 240-mm M-240 towed mortars of the Syrian army.



https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3120651.html

The rounds on the ground look like aviation bombs... they are about 120kgs each so they are very much the equivalent of FAB-100s...

Does anyone know if the SAA used their KS-19 100mm and 52-Kingdom 85mm AA guns in the conflict? not as air defence but as an improvised artillery or direct fire support for ground troops (some armed forces have done this in the past) as they have mounted S-60 and 61-K on trucks. If so any pic's?

would be great to catalogue improvised weapon systems during the conflict there must be loads Inc upgrades

also anyone confirm that Syria has Sa-4 krug? I read in a book about cold war systems and stated Syria had it. is true? or did they have it but now no longer in service?

At the armored repair plant in Homs there are more than 900 armored vehicles of the Syrian army



 An estimate of the number of armored combat vehicles of the Syrian Arab Army located on the territory of the armored repair plant in Homs, based on the analysis of satellite imagery.

The final approximate number is 905 ACVs.

* taking into account the limitations of available satellite imagery



 The number of armored personnel carriers stored in Homs (its reserve similar repair center in Damascus contains a much smaller number), before the coup, was only a few dozen, but this number grew rapidly as the fighting intensified, which led to massive losses of armored vehicles .



 Based on a limited number of close-up photos from the site, it seems very likely that only cars are stored there without visible signs of irreparable damage or fire.







https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3148603.html

Note: Pelena-6BS-F Sfera (sphere variant- in ref. to a spherical housing that covers antenna) RCIED jammers installed atop BTR-80 where extensively used in the 2nd Chechen War,now being phased out in favor of RP-377VM1.Those vehicles might be sold/transferred to SAA (post withdrawal)?

https://twitter.com/Russian_Defence/status/985654528648327169

Interesting...

Syrian 302-mm multiple launch rocket system.

d_taddei2 wrote:Does anyone know if the SAA used their KS-19 100mm and 52-Kingdom 85mm AA guns in the conflict?  not as air defence but as an improvised  artillery or direct fire support for ground troops  (some armed forces have done this in the past) as  they have mounted S-60 and 61-K on trucks. If so any pic's?

would be great to catalogue improvised weapon systems during the conflict there must be loads Inc upgrades

also anyone confirm that Syria has Sa-4 krug? I read in a book about cold war systems and stated Syria had it. is true? or did they have it but now no longer in service?

These links can be near of what you want.

https://misterxanlisis.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/hezbollah-getting-armored-in-syria/
https://twitter.com/Objekt432Y/status/904058165402132480

Rare photo of a Syrian Smerch

Syrian tanks receive thermal imaging sights

As the Web resource "Messenger of Mordovia" informs, the night thermal imaging sights Viper ("Viper") continue to arrive in the Syrian army. They are installed on tanks T-72M1, T-72AV, T-55A and T-55MV. These products are manufactured by the Damascus Research Center of imported components. Two years of operation in the troops confirmed the high performance of the devices.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3288144.htmldestruction of international terrorists.

Syrian army receives BTR-70M APCs

The governmental armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) have received some BTR-70M armored personnel carriers (APCs), according to Syrian media outlets.An armor unit of the Syrian Arab Armed Forces (SAAF) in northern Syria has taken the delivery of a batch of at least three BTR-70M 8x8 APCs. Previously, the SAAF operated ageing BTR-60 8x8 carriers and BRDM-2 4x4 armored reconnaissance vehicles (ARV). Several units were reported to be equipped with BTR-80 and BTR-82A APCs.

The BTR-70M has been fitted with a KAMAZ-7403 diesel engine with a power output of 260 hp instead of two ZMZ-4905 petrol engines. The upgraded carrier has received the transmission, fuel system, and steering unit of the BTR-80 APC. The BTR-70M has also received the BTR-80`s manned turret with the 1P3-7 optical sight, TVNE-4B observation system, and TKN-3 combined observation system with day and night passive channels. The armament suite of the upgraded BTR-70 remains the same, comprising a KPVT 14.5 mm heavy machinegun and a Kalashnikov PKT 7.62 mm coaxial medium machine gun. Six Tucha 902V smoke dischargers are installed on the rear of the turret.

The BTR-70M features a moderate demand in the global arms market. In 2014, the Nicaraguan Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas de Nicaragua) showed several BTR-70Ms during a defense show in the country`s capital, Managua. However, Nicaragua`s military did not specify the size of its fleet of the BTR-70M carriers.

The Armed Forces of the Kyrgyz Republic also receive the BTR-70M APCs. By February 2016, the country had taken the delivery of 20 upgraded vehicles. The BTR-70Ms have been delivered to Tajikistan. The Mongolian military operates at least 10 BTR-70Ms. Belarus has developed its own variant of the BTR-70 modernization, which is named BTR-70MB1. Like the BTR-70M, the BTR-70MB1 is powered by a KAMAZ-7403.10 turbocharged diesel engine with a power output of 260 hp. Owing to the integration of a more powerful engine, the maximum speed of the BTR-70MB1 has reached 92 km/h. The organic R-123M radio has been replaced by the Belarusian-made R-181-50TU Drofa jamming-resistant digital radio.

https://www.armyrecognition.com/september_2018_global_defense_security_army_news_industry/syrian_army_receives_btr-70m_apcs.html

Syrian Express Large Landing Ship "Azov" project 775, Tartus, Syria. Our days
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Looks like the unloaded BM-21 "Grad" (based on ZiL-131) were delivered from the conservation of the Russian military depots. Since they haven't been seen in the Russian regiments from 2008.

In Syria, the T-72 is seen with an unusually "square tower"

During the years of the civil war in Syria, the soldiers of SAA created several options for modernization of T-72 tanks. In first place, mainly improvements related to improving protection against cumulative weapons.

A very detailed overview of the Syrian Army

https://www.mei.edu/publications/lion-and-eagle-syrian-arab-armys-destruction-and-rebirth

this is a bit of a beast, might not be the most accurate but the blast wave would be large and hideous.

tken from syrian army fb

"Don't be surprised if the Turkish military invested in brown pants now that they saw first hand what one of these things can do.
Golan-1000 short-range rocket launcher; Syrian 4th Armored Division."



https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2783001661781198&set=a.349106328504089

another pic of the system.




Syria is believed to have at least 25 systems in service. The Golan-1000 launcher fires three unguided 500 millimeter-calibre massive rockets, with a range of 3-12km, carrying 500-kg of high-explosive fragmentation ammunition. It can fire its 3 rockets in 30 seconds and has a reload time of 30 seconds.The vehicle's launch system is operated remotely using a simple control pad

Isn't there an upgraded Russian Grad? Second hand Grads would be pretty cheap.


The Syrian military may purchase a Belarusian missile system to replace their current Russian Grad rockets, Avia.Pro reported on Wednesday.

According to the publication, the Syrian military may acquire the Belarusian Flute system, which they claim will be an upgrade from their current Grads.

“Syrian military experts are actively discussing the possibility of acquiring a large batch of Belarusian Flute multiple launch rocket systems, intending to replace the Russian Grad multiple-launch rocket systems with them,” Avia.Pro said.

“According to a number of sources, in comparison with Grad, Belarusian Flutes have a much larger range and they are capable of simultaneously firing up to 80 rockets,” they continued.

The publication said that the Belarusian Flute system will allow the Syrian military to fire 80 missiles per minute at any target, while covering a large area.

“Belarusian MLRS can launch 80 missiles at a target in a minute, covering a huge area. To combat jihadists, this weapon is simply indispensable – in comparison with them, the Grad seems to be a joke, ”the publication says.

The Syrian Army has been operating the Grad missile system for several years now; however, they have also developed their own MLRS launcher, which they have dubbed the ‘Golan’.



https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syria-may-purchase-belarusian-missile-system-report/

Doesn't look like a 122mm calibre weapon...

The Russians have all sorts of upgraded artillery rocket options...

GarryB wrote:Doesn't look like a 122mm calibre weapon...

The Russians have all sorts of upgraded artillery rocket options...

Mini Grad.


Meanwhile, "We can see you"

I thought that system was firing a version of the air launched 80 mm unguided rocket.