Syria-Exhibitions in the park-Patriot

An infantry fighting vehicle BMP-1 with improvised additional armor, used by fighters of the Dzabhat al-Nusra group, controlled by al-Qaeda. Captured by Syrian government forces in September 2017 north of the city of Hama.

As part of the International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2017", its organizers, as a side event, prepared an exhibition dedicated to the Grouping of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as weapons and equipment obtained during the hostilities in this country.

The pavilion, which was quickly dubbed the “Syrian exhibition” by Russian media representatives, was located in the area of ​​the Patriot Museum and Exhibition Complex, known as the “guerrilla settlement”. In one of the halls, in addition to basic information about the activities of the Group of the Russian Armed Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic, equipment is presented - original and in the form of models - that was in service with Russian soldiers, as well as many items of weapons and equipment. - made independently and of foreign origin - obtained from branches of the so-called Islamic State during the fighting in the provinces of Aleppo, Homs, Hama and other regions of Syria. Subsequent information boards were dedicated to individual branches of the military, their use in the conflict, as well as the successes achieved during the hostilities.

Air defense

In the part of the exhibition dedicated to the Aerospace Forces (VKS, Aerospace Forces, until July 31, 2015, Air Force, Military Space Forces), in addition to information about the use of Russian aviation over Syria, as well as the activities of support services, there were also interesting facts about the use of air defense systems. It should be understood that the deployment of this category of assets and their presence in Syria is an important propaganda tool, but there is still little reliable information about the real composition and, above all, about its combat activities of this group.

During the first stage of the air transfer of components of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system to the Humaimim air base, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (MO RF) made a lot of photo and film materials related to air defense technology. accessible. Later, individual elements of the system under construction reached Syria not only by air, but also by sea. The available photos and TV footage at the Khumajmim base, which is the main location of the ZKS forces in Syria, show not only all the main elements of the S-400 system (92N6 tracking and guidance radar, 96L6 WWO target detection radar, 91N6 long-range detection radar, at least four launchers 5P85SM2-01), as well as other firearms (combat anti-aircraft missile vehicles 72W6-4 Pantsir-S), but also electronic warfare systems (Krasucha-4).

Another unit, equipped with the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, is probably deployed near the city of Masyaf in the province of Hama and covers the Tartus base. At the same time, the set of equipment is similar to that observed in Humaimi, and PRWB 400W72-6 Pancyr-S was used to directly cover the S-4 system. In the Masyaf area, it was also confirmed that a single set of 48Ya6M Podlet-M mobile radar was developed, designed to detect low-flying targets with a small effective radar reflection area, such as UAVs.

The air defense system also included self-propelled artillery and missile anti-aircraft combat vehicles of the Pancyr-S 72W6 family (unknown, 72W6-2 or 72W6-4 variants with a newer type of target detection radar). Tartu naval base.

During the Army-2017 forum, during the Syrian exposition, during the Syrian exposition, information was selected on the activities of the air defense systems of the Russian contingent in Syria from March to July 2017. However, to date, there is no information about the use of the S-400 missile system or the S-300F ship missile system used by the Varyag and Moskva missile cruisers (Project 1164) and Peter the Great (Project 11442) in combat operations, which periodically take part in operations in the Eastern Mediterranean. If such a fact had taken place, it would probably have been reported by the world media, because it would be almost impossible to hide from the public.

Although the above information is not complete, it can be concluded that in the spring-summer of 2017, Russian air defense in Syria was quite intense. The distances at which the fire was fired, as well as the categories of targets at which the fight is being conducted, indicate that the lion's share of the tasks was carried out by the PRVB service of the Pantsir-S complex. In total, during this period, 12 cases of firing at specific targets were announced (in one of the next issues of WiT, a separate article will be devoted to the participation of the Pantsir-S system in operations in Syria).

Naval

The Russian military contingent in Syria also includes the Operational Group of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea. In August 2017, participation in activities off the coast of Syria was mentioned, including: the heavy aircraft cruiser Admiral of the Fleet Soyuz Kuznetsov (project 11435), the heavy missile cruiser Peter the Great (project 11442), the large ship PDO " Vice-Admiral Kulakov (project 1155), frigates Admiral Essen (project 11356), submarine Krasnodar (project 6363), watchdog Dagestan (project 11661), small missile ships, pr. 21631 ("Uglich", "Grad Sviyazhsk" and "Veliky Ustyug"). The combat use of 3M-14 cruise missiles, as well as the Bastion coastal missile system with Onyx guided anti-ship missiles, has been confirmed.