Russia had declared that it will deliver its S 300 missile system to Syria after the downing
of a Russian plane by Syrian forces responding to an Israeli airstrike.
During a UN press conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated the deliveries
has started.
He said the air defense system “will be devoted to ensuring 100 percent safety and
security of our men in Syria.”
The S-300 transfer to Syria is being done using the Russian Antonov An-124, which is
considered to be the largest military transport aircraft in the world.
The deployment has set alarm bells ringing especially in Israel.
A senior Israeli official was quoted, “The S-300 is a complex challenge for the State
of Israel.
We are dealing with the [decision] in different ways, not necessarily by preventing shipment”
This brings us to the topic of this video.
Israel has been developing an advanced weapon for some time now and is expected to be operational
next year with serial production starting in early 2019.
In this video, Defense Updates analyzes if Israel’s Rampage supersonic Air to Surface
missile can destroy S 300?
Let's get started.
S 300 is a formidable air defense system.
The current options that Israel has to counter it, may not be good enough.
This is examined in the video on the above card.
It is strongly suggested to watch that video first, if you haven’t seen it and then continue
with this one.
Israel’s latest weapon-Rampage is being developed to fill certain capablity gap and
add potency to Israel's offensive capacity.
Rampage is air to surface missile being developed by Israeli Military Industries (IMI) systems
in coordination with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
The new weapon was first revealed in a press release on June 11, 2018.
A video was also provided where an IAF F-16I Sufa multi-role combat aircraft was shown
launching one of the missile.
Eli Reiter, head of IMI System's Firepower Division, told Ynet “Sending four fighter
jets carrying four Rampage missiles [each] allows us to strike under conditions we’ve
never had before”.
He added “The weapon offers a quantum leap in performance and extraordinary cost-effectiveness
ratio, two factors which are important to many air forces around the world”
Rampage is derived from IMI System's ground-launched Extended Range Artillery guided artillery
rocket or EXTRA.
The missile uses a GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS) guidance package to hit its
intended target.
The guidance package is resistant to Electronic Jamming.
It has a range of 90 miles or 145 km and has supersonic speed of 1 Mach and accuracy of
10 m CEP
Rampage bring in supersonic speed which is not present in Popeye and Delilah cruise missiles.
The supersonic speed provides a significant advantage as this makes the missile much harder
to intercept as well as makes it an excellent option against time-sensitive targets like
the S 300 which is mobile.
But the problem with Rampage is that it has a much smaller range.
This means any aircraft that will use Rampage will be in the target envelop of S 300.
In this situation, any aircraft even Israel’s F 35s will be vulnerable.
Keeping in view, it will be very costly and tactically not viable for Israel to attempt
an onslaught on S 300 with aircraft armed with Rampage.