Their army’s equipment and strategy was “outmoded”; their air force’s bombs
and missiles were “more dumb than smart”; their navy was “more rust than ready”.
For decades, this was Western military leaders’ view, of their Russian counterparts.
What they have seen in Syria and Ukraine has come as a shock.
Russian military jets have, at times, have carried out more sorties in a day in Syria
than the US-led coalition has done in a month.
The Russian navy has launched ballistic missiles from the Caspian Sea 900 miles way, and kept
supply lines going to Syria.
The air defenses installed by the Russians in Syria and eastern Ukraine would make it
extremely hazardous for the West to carry out strikes against the Assad regime or Ukrainian
separatists.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the commander of the US army in Europe, has described Russian
advances in electronic warfare in Syria and Ukraine – a field in which they were typically
supposed to be backward – as “eye watering”.
Russia’s ongoing campaign in Syria wouldn’t have been such a game changer without the
deployment of some of the country’s most sophisticated weapons.
In this video, Defense Updates lists TOP 5 RUSSIAN WEAPON THAT HAS MADE A COMBAT DEBUT
IN SYRIA
Lets gets started.
The Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighter, adopted by the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2015, has
been deployed against the radical Islamists in Syria from the beginning of Russia’s
anti-Daesh campaign there.
In 2016 the Russian aircraft contingent deployed at Hmeymim Airbase was further bolstered by
four Sukhoi Su-35S super maneuverable multirole fighters.
The addition of the Su-35 provides Russia with more powefu fighter escorts for its fleet
of Su-24 Fencer and Su-25 Forefoot strike aircraft that are operating from the Khmeimim
air base, which is located in Syria’s northwestern Latakia province.
Those aircraft have minimal air-to-air self-defense capability and were reliant on the Sukhoi
Su-30SM and Su-27SM3 Flankers for protection.
Defined as a Generation 4++ fighter, the Su-35S is capable of flying at a speed of up to 2,400
km/hour and ascending to a height of 20,000 meters.
The plane’s maximum range stands at 3,600 kilometers, and with an additional fuel tank
the figure can be increased by 900 kilometers.
The nozzles of its Saturn AL-41F1S turbofans can independently point in different directions
in flight to assist the aircraft in rolling and yawing enabling Super maneuverability
that makes Su 35 an excellent dog fighter.
The fighter also has sophisticated Irbis radar, which allows the plane to detect targets at
distances of up to 400 kilometers, as well as track aerial targets and engage up to 8
of these targets simultaneously.
When we think of cruise missile attacks launched from a warship, the first thing that comes
to our mind is American Tomahawk missiles.
US Navy had maintained the distinction of being the only navy to launch long-range cruise
missiles from surface ships, at land targets in combat.
But that changed in 2015.
Russian Navy became the new entry into the very short list by using the Kalibr in Syria.
On 7th October 2015 the world became suddenly aware that Russia possesses sophisticated
long-range cruise missiles.
Russian warships successfully obliterated a number of Daesh targets by launching Kalibr-NK
missiles from hundreds of miles away.
While many of this new cruise missile’s parameters still remain classified, apparently
it can hit assets on the ground from a distance of up to 2,600 kilometers.
It has a 450 kg (1000 pound) high-explosive warhead and a turbofan engine.
Similar to Tomahawk , it has a speed of Mach 0.8.
The Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic strategic bomber, known as the 'White Swan' in Russia and as
'Blackjack' abroad, is usually considered a deterrent, a nuclear weapon delivery system
capable of crossing a distance of up to 14,000 kilometers without refueling.
In Syria, however, these bombers wiped out numerous Daesh targets using conventional
ordnance with the Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles.
The missile might have a range as great as 3,100 miles as per some Western estimates.
However, Russian media indicates that the weapon has far greater capabilities.
In 2012, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that the conventional variant of the missile
would have a circular probability of error of less than 30 feet at ranges of up to 6,000
miles.
The missile’s warhead packs 880 lbs of explosives.
Turkey had shot down a Russia (update to: Russian) Su-24 Fencer that had crossed the
Turkish border for about 18 seconds.
Following that incident, Moscow deployed the S-400 air defense system to Syria.
S 400 is considered to be one of the most lethal Air Defense system in the world.
S 400 can detect and engage anything thats in air.
Strategic bombers such as the B1B and B-52 Electronic warfare airplanes such as the E-3A
& E-2C Reconnaissance airplanes such as the TR-1
Early warning radar airplanes such as the E3A and E2C
Fighter airplanes such as the F 15, F 16, Stealth airplanes such as the B 2 , F 35 and
F 22 Strategic cruise missiles such as the tomahawk
Medium and Intermediate Ballistic missiles
S 400 possess different radar for different bands and has a range of 400 Km.
It is equipped with 4 different missiles to fill its performance envelope.
Just one S 400 system can control up to 72 launchers, with a maximum of 384 missiles.
It can simultaneously engage up to 80 targets.
Now, more than 15 years after the F-22 entered service, Russia is pitting the best its military
aviation industry can offer against its rival in Syria.
Su 57 is 5th generation, stealthy, single-seat, twin-engine jet multirole fighter aircraft
designed for air superiority and ground attack operations.
It is the first operational aircraft in Russian Air Force service to use stealth technology.
Similar to F-22, the airframe incorporates planform edge alignment to reduce its radar
cross-section (RCS); the leading and trailing edges of the wings and control surfaces and
the serrated edges of skin panels are carefully angled to reduce the number of directions
the radar waves can be reflected.
Also radar-absorbent material (RAM) has been used to reduce its radar return which makes
it difficult to detect.
Su 57 is designed to have extreme maneuverability at both supersonic and subsonic speeds and
is the 1st fighter jet to utilize 3D thrust vectoring.
The N036 Belka radar system provides Su 57 with 360 degree coverage with a main nose-mounted
X-band AESA radar , two smaller X-band AESA radars mounted on the sides of the forward
fuselage and 2 L-band arrays on the wing’s leading edge extensions .
The radar station of the Su-57 is speculated to have the ability to detect ‘stealth’
aircraft, and track over 10 targets simultaneously.
The Su 57 also houses an Infrared Search And Track (IRST) sensor to detect enemy aircrafts
with their IR signature.