On 21 January, the Israeli military stated that it has hit Iranian and Syrian targets
around Damascus, including the Russian made Pantsir-S1 air defense system.
The Israel Defense Forces said night raids targeted the elite Quds Force of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards, as well as Syrian air defenses.
The Israeli military statement stated, “During our strike, dozens of Syrian surface-to-air
missiles were launched, despite clear warnings to avoid such fire.
In response, we also targeted several of the Syrian Armed Forces’ aerial defense batteries,”
It also released footage showing the several Russian-made Pantsir-S1 missile defense systems
were hit directly during an Israeli airstrike in Syria.
Viewer can check the video in the link provided in the ‘Description' section below.
It is to be noted that on May 10 last year, Israeli fighter jets had taken out Pantsir-S1
for the first time.
In this video Defense Updates analyses how Israeli Air Force has again destroyed the
Russian Pantsir-S1 ? Let's get in the details.
The Pantsir-S1 is mobile and uses wheeled or track chassis.
Its fire control system includes a target acquisition radar and dual waveband tracking
radar that operates in the UHF and EHF waveband.
Detection range is 36 km (22 mi) and tracking range is 28 km (17 mi) for a target with 2
m2 (22 sq ft) RCS.
The system has a 360-degree coverage and both the sensors use Passive electronically scanned
array.
There is also an infrared radar that is capable of detecting, acquiring and tracking targets
even in low visibility conditions.
Pantsir-S1 is unique as it is the first version of the Pantsir family of air defense system
that combines short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery in a single
platform.
The surface-to-air missiles option is the 12 57E6 or 57E6-E two-stage solid fuel radio-command-guided
missile.
The missiles are arranged into two groups of 6 sealed ready-to-launch container tubes
on the turret, so it has 12 missiles onboard.
The missiles have a range of 20 km or 12 miles, max speed of Mach 3.8 and carry a 20 kg High
Explosive fragmentation warhead.
Anti-aircraft artillery is the two dual 2A38M 30 mm autocannon guns that are fitted with
700 rounds.
The crew can choose the kind of ammunition depending on the nature of the target which
includes High explosive fragmentation or armor piercing rounds.
The maximum rate of fire is 2,500 rounds per minute per gun.
The cannon has a range is up to 4 km (2.5 mi).
If the system works as advertised by Russian military, it should able to defend itself
against Israeli missile, but it is not the case.
After the first attack in May last year, Aytech Bizhev, a former deputy commander-in-chief
of the Russian air force told Russian Today, that there could be two possible reasons for
the failure of Pantsir-S1 in protecting itself.
“One is that it had already used up its ammunition reserve.
The other is that it was simply turned off; it wasn’t battle ready.”
He continued that, “There can be no third option, as it wouldn’t have let itself to
be destroyed.
When it’s battle ready, it performs constant surveillance of enemy aircraft and has a very
fast reaction time.
It would’ve brought down those cruise missiles with either its cannons or own missiles.”
But even at that time, voices wit different opinion had emerged in Russia itself.
Viktor Murakhovsky editor-in-chief of ‘Arsenal of Fatherland’ magazine had posted on his
Facebook wall and made some starling disclosures.
According to Viktor Murakhovsky post, in Syria, it came to light that these Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft
missile systems practically “do not track” low-speed and small-sized targets, which include
drones, but at the same time regularly spotted big birds flying around the base, which is
confusing for operators.
This came as a major embarrassment for Russian military.
It come to light that Russian military has gagged the military expert for the adverse
comments on the Pantsir-S1.
Lenta.ru which cited another Russian military expert Alexey Khlopotov had reported that,
within 24hrs Murakhovsky was forced to remove the post.
Alexey Khlopotov had said, ”It appears that our weapons, to journalists and experts can
only be praises”,clearly hinting about pressure from the Russian military.
About the latest attack , Syria's state-run Sana news agency quoted a military source
as saying it "confronted an Israeli attack" and "prevented it from achieving its objectives".
The Russian military, which backs the Syrian government, said more than 30 missiles and
guided bombs were shot down.
It is clear that Israeli Air Force is able to destroy the Pantsir-S1 system with impunity
and the strike of last year was not a one off incident.
Even in this occasion, Israel Air Force was unharmed.
Israel has not disclosed what kind of weapon was deployed to take it out though some experts
suggest it was, Delilah missile.
Delilah is specifically designed to hunt & destroy the enemy air defense system and is dubbed
as Air Defense System killer by Israel.
The missile has a maximum range of 250-300 km, carries payloads between 30-54 kg and
can cruise at a speed of only Mach 0.3-0.7.
The missile reportedly has an accuracy of 1 m CEP.
The Delilah is unique as its radar signature is either too small or too large and doesn’t
match the profile of an aircraft or a missile.
It appears as a decoy while being detected by the enemy radar and this could one of the
reason that it is able to fooled Pantsir-S1.
The incident is really very bad publicity for Russian military hardware and gives credibility
to the assertions of many western military experts when they say that Russian systems
are only good on paper not in practice
It must be noted that unlike in ‘West' , where media is able to highlight any short comings
of military system, in Russia they are choked.
It is highly likely that many other Russian systems have significant flaws but have not
got into public domain.
Another important aspect is that it is it is highly unlikely that Israel has employed
the 5th generation F 35 stealth fighters and are able to accomplice these kinds of strikes
with 4th generation fighters.