Airforces

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

(SyADF) have been central. Israeli, US, British

and French air arms have been locked in

deadly duels with Syria’s missile and radar

crews, who are being actively assisted by

their Russian allies. Air defence crews of the

Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily (VKS, Russian

Air and Space Force) are present in Syria in

some strength and Moscow recently confirmed

they had been re-equipping, reorganising and

re-training the SyADF over the past 18 months.

It’s possible to build up a picture of the

capabilities of the SyADF in 2018 by pulling

together multiple sources of information. Very-

high-definition commercial satellite imagery

available on open sources allows SyADF missile

and radar sites to be pinpointed with some

accuracy. Some of this imagery is dated from

April and May this year, and so is relatively

current. The Syrian and Russian media have

visited several SyADF sites over the last two

months, giving an unprecedented view of

its equipment, deployments and personnel.

As mentioned earlier, the Russian military

have also held several briefings this year

describing SyADF operations in some detail.

Since the establishment of the SyADF

in 1969 along Soviet lines, it has existed

as an independent branch of the Syrian

Armed Forces. The force is responsible

for the country’s integrated air defence

system (IADS), which comprises a network

of early warning radar sites plus SAM and

anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) batteries. It also

manages a command and control network

to link them all together, as well as providing

ground control intercept (GCI) services for

Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) fighters.

In 2018 the SyADF is clearly a shadow of its

pre-war organisations with many of its missile

and radar sites overrun by rebel forces or

destroyed in fighting since the start of the civil

war in 2011. Analysis in 2011 suggested that the

force boasted some 130 active SAM sites. In

May this year, this had dropped to approximately

60 active SAM sites, with possibly some 500

individual missile launchers and scores of radar

sites. However, around a quarter of these

involved new Pantsir (SA-22 Greyhound) gun/

missile systems or Buk (SA-17 Grizzly) SAMs,

supplied since 2008. A Russian news agency

reported earlier this year that Moscow had

delivered 40 new Pantsir systems, effectively

doubling the numbers in service with the SyADF.

The organisation of the SyADF was also very

different from its pre-war status. By May, some

75% of Syrian SAM sites were now in the

Damascus area and they included nine of the

11 equipped with new Pantsirs and four of the

six Buk sites. The north and east of Syria has

been denuded of SyADF missile and radars

because of heavy rebel attacks over the past

seven years. This coverage has effectively been

replaced by the arrival of the VKS in Latakia

province, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The

Russians have positioned at least one S-400

(SA-21 Growler) SAM battery on the top of the

Latakia mountain range, as well as two long-

range radar sites and a GCI command post,

linked into the country-wide air defence network

by satellite communications. This enables

Russian air defence commanders to monitor

huge tracts of airspace, and those parts of

Syria shielded by other mountain ranges

can be observed by VKS A-50 airborne early

warning radar aircraft, two of which are forward

based in Syria. Russian radar coverage is

further bolstered by stationing Black Sea

Fleet warships in the eastern Mediterranean.

The presence of Russian ground-based radars,

A-50s and warships means that Moscow’s

forces are able to ‘see’ across huge tracts of

the Middle East. It’s no surprise that generals

in the Kremlin are willing to give a running

commentary of allied and Israeli air activity.

While the Russian SAM batteries and Pantsirs

are concentrated in Latakia province to defend

the Kremlin’s main air and naval bases, over

the past 18 months Moscow has clearly been

working to bolster the effectiveness of the

SyADF main missile engagement zone (MEZ)

around Damascus. As well as delivering

new Pantsirs to the SyADF, Russia has been

running a major re-training effort to rebuild the

SyADF. After the April 14 missile strikes, Syrian

television broadcast a report from Dumayr

air base, northeast of Damascus. It showed

that new variants of the Pantsir were active in

Syria and also went inside a Syrian air defence

command post. The 1970s-vintage radar

scopes associated with Soviet-era SAMs were

gone and the command team was working on

21st century computer systems. One radar

screen appeared to show aircraft movements

across a large swathe of the Middle East,

including northern Israel, Jordan and Iraq.

Air war over Syria

A VKS Su-30SM overhead

Khmeimim with a typical combat

air patrol load-out of four R-27R

and four R-73 air-to-air missiles.

As well as bolstering its own

air defences in Syria, Moscow

has been providing increasingly

capable equipment to its Syrian

hosts. Russian MoD

Above: Debris, reportedly from various weapons found by Russian and Syrian personnel after the US/UK/

French missile strikes on Syria on April 14. These particular items are allegedly from Storm Shadow/SCALP

cruise missiles. Russian MoD Right: A 34th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-1B deployed to the 379th Air

Expeditionary Wing prepares to launch from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, for a strike mission against Syria

on April 13. Two B-1Bs – deployed from Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota – employed 19 Joint Air-to-Surface

Standoff Missiles (JASSMs), marking the fi rst combat employment of the weapon. USAF/Master Sgt Phil Speck

74-78 Syrian AFM Oct2018.indd 76 9/10/2018 11:03:54 AM