Airforces

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #367 OCTOBER 2018 // 75

esidents of the Syrian capital,

Damascus, awoke to the sound of

explosions around the city on the

morning of April 14. Looking out of their

windows, they could see missiles arcing into

the sky. Within minutes, the international

media was broadcasting footage of the action.

Later that morning, events took a new turn.

Russia, having come to the aid of the Syrian

president, sent one of its generals to a press

conference at the MoD in Moscow where

he gave a detailed account of the battle.

The general described how the allied

attack unfolded, citing the number of cruise

missiles fired at 103, revealing the aircraft

types involved, where US warships had

fired their cruise missiles from and their

flight paths. Three hours later, a US general

provided the Pentagon’s account of the

operation which in most respects chimed

with the Kremlin’s account. He said the

allies launched 105 cruise missiles.

The only serious bone of contention

was whether or not Syrian surface-to-air

missiles (SAMs) had successfully shot down

any of the inbound cruise missiles. The

propaganda war was now in high gear.

What was new about this ‘war of missile

claims’ was that it now seemed to be a ‘war

of equals’. Both the Russians and Americans

clearly have a degree of situational awareness

of Syria’s battlefields that wasn’t seen in

previous air wars over the past 30 years. The

Russians have also shown themselves to

be adept at getting their story ‘out’ first.

Amid all the public relations ‘fire and fury’

of the past few months, the capabilities and

performance of the Syrian Air Defence Force

R

Above: A VKS Su-25 taxies past a pair of Russian S-400 Triumf (SA-21 ‘Growler’) transporter-erector-

launchers at Khmeimim air base in Latakia province. This SAM was fi rst deployed to Syria after a VKS

Su-24 strike aircraft was downed by a Turkish Air Force F-16 in November 2015. Russian MoD

74-78 Syrian AFM Oct2018.indd 75 9/10/2018 11:03:49 AM