Hello everyone you are watching another episode of Military TV
The Russian Ministry of Defense is currently working on expanding the capacities of Syria’s
Khmeimim airbase in Latakia countryside as part of Russia’s plans to entrench its presence in
the eastern Mediterranean in the long run. The agreement was signed by representatives of the
two countries on July 21, 2020, and which became effective on July 30, 2020, concerns
an area of land and sea near Syria’s northern Latakia province, where the Russian-controlled
Hmeimim airbase is located. The territory is comprising eight hectares of land and a further
eight hectares of coastal waters will be granted to Russia on a temporary basis and at no cost.
It also will be used for a medical treatment and rehabilitation center for Russian air force staff.
New satellite images of Russia's Hmeimim airbase outpost in Syria show work ongoing to extend
one of its two main runways by around 1,000 feet, which would allow the base to support
more regular deployments of larger and more heavily-laden aircraft, including heavy airlifters
and even potentially bombers. The images also showed that extensions are being added to both
ends of the western runway, bringing it from its previous length of approximately 9,500 feet,
as it had been since 2015, to around 10,500 feet. A taxiway also appears to be being constructed to
link the northern ends of the base’s two runways. Khmeimim that located in Syria's coastal Latakia
governorate has been a major hub for the Kremlin's military intervention in that country, which began
in 2015. Two years later, the Russian government signed a new long-term lease for the base with
Syrian authorities, as part of a larger deal that also saw Russia extend its access to port
facilities at Tartus, further to the south, for at least another 49 years. This arrangement came
after Russian forces, especially combat airpower, had been instrumental in preventing the collapse
of the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad. At the same time, the base also presents a
strategically valuable airfield outside of Russia that can support broader military activities,
especially in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.
For instance, the base provided a useful intermediate staging point for MiG-29
Fulcrum fighters and Su-24 Fencer combat jets that Russia sent to Libya to bolster
forces aligned with rogue General Khalifa Haftar, which is engaged in a civil conflict
with the country's United Nations-recognized and predominantly Turkish-backed government.
Meanwhile, Russia's larger airlifters, including massive An-124s, have already made many trips to
Khmeimim, but the longer runway could allow them to fly in and out of the base at greater gross
weights, especially during hotter times of the year. This means that these aircraft will be able
to bring in more cargo and passengers on each flight, streamlining routine operations to the
base, which serves as an important logistical conduit for Russian forces throughout Syria.
The extra runway would also provide better safety margins for rejected takeoff situations.
An extended runway would also enable individual cargo aircraft
to bring in larger payloads on short notice to support planned surges in operational activity
or respond to sudden changes in fighting in the country. It could also provide a useful
intermediate staging point for heavily-laden Russian airlifters, none of which are aerial
refueling capable, headed for other countries in the region, such as Libya, and beyond.
The extension and rehabilitation of the western runway at Khmeimim could also be
envisioned as a way to better accommodate any of Russia's current trio of bombers, the Tu-22M3,
the Tu-95MS, and Tu-160. Russia has employed bombers over Syria in the past, but has done
so through long-range strike or cruise missile launch sorties that see them fly circuitous round
trip routes from its own territory. In 2016, it also deployed Tu-22M bombers to a base in Iran
to support its Syrian campaign. In other words, Having the ability to stage bombers at Khmeimim,
even on short-duration employments, would offer a much less politically complex basing
alternative for employing these aircraft in the ongoing fighting in Syria. At the same time,
routine bomber deployments to the base would also provide valuable strategic power projection.
There are certainly questions about the ability of Khmeimim's other facilities to handle any massive
additional influx of bigger aircraft, whether they be cargo planes or bombers.
The eastern ramp is presently the primary place where any sort of larger aircraft,
also including A-50U airborne early warning and control aircraft and Il-20 spy planes. Older
satellite imagery shows that even after that ramp was built, An-124s still used the closed western
runway to unload cargo, before the resurfacing work appeared to put an end to that, as well.
However, apart from Russia’s goal behind expanding the base which is to increase the capacity of the
Khmeimim base and transform it into an operational center in the region, it is working on making it
a center to facilitate logistical and strategic transfers from Russia to Syria, and from there
to any other base in the Middle East such as al-Jufra base in Libya or others in the future.
Meanwhile, the ongoing construction that is visible now only underscores the continued
importance of Khmeimim to Russia, both for its ongoing efforts in Syria and beyond.
The runway extension and any other subsequent efforts to expand the base
would only help grow its overall strategic significance for the Kremlin.
There are already indications that, while fighting is certainly still going on in Syria,
that the Russian presence in Latakia has become steadily more regularized over the past six years.
This could further point to a long-term vision on the Kremlin's part that sees Khmeimim continue to
evolve into a more general-purpose Russian military outpost abroad.
It's long been clear that the Kremlin has every intention of staying at Khmeimim for decades to
come, but the new construction also indicates that plans are afoot to significantly expand
its role in Russian military operations in the region and beyond, which could cause
increasing concern for Moscow's NATO foes. Thanks for watching, and as always if you
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