According to Russian media sources, early this morning the Russian early warning radar system Armavir run by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces detected the launch of two missiles in the Mediterranean. Both missiles were fired in an eastern trajectory and both eventually fell into the sea.
Russian early warning radars systems |
First, nobody admitted firing these missiles, in fact everybody denied it, but eventually the Israelis admitted that they did that in a joint operation with the US Navy. The Israelis claimed that the launch was designed to test the Israeli anti-missile system, but it is at least as likely that it was designed to test the Russian and/or Syrian capabilities and that as soon as it became clear that the missiles were tracked, they were dumped into the sea. This was probably not an attempt to attack Syria since any objective would require more missiles (typically 5 per target).
Voronezh-DM radar |
According to Russian sources the Syrian air defenses were not put on high alert and the Russian personnel in Syria was not warned of an incoming attack.
My own take is that this was probably a test designed to see how the Russians and Syrians would be capable of detecting the launch of missiles as far as from the central Mediterranean and if they did, how they would react to the flight of inbound missiles.
I would also add that considering the current situation making such unannounced “tests” is completely irresponsible. Thank God that the Russians did immediately detect and track these missiles and that the Syrians did not have to assume that they are being attacked. That kind of reckless behavior is typically of the usual Israeli arrogance.
The other good news is that the Russian defensive network seems to work very well indeed and that this will further deter the US military from attempting any kind of surprise attack. In a paradoxical way, the Israeli arrogance gave the Russians and the Syrians a very good opportunity to test their interoperability and communication procedures. With the arrival of dedicated Russian Navy intelligence ships near the Syrian coast the Russian military will have the ability to not only immediately detect any launch as they did today, but also to track the inbound flight of US cruise missiles throughout their flight which will greatly facilitate the work of the Syrian air defenses while offering an additional ‘depth’ of protection for the Russian Navy task force.
If anybody in Israel or the USA had any illusions about Russian capabilities in the Middle-East the quasi instantaneous response from the Kremlin and the Russian media this morning has completely crushed them.
Good.
The Saker
Any idea what missiles they fired? I can’t figure it out…
They keep mentioning Sparrow test misiles in this royters piece (google royters “uk-syria-crisis-russia-defence”).
The only name that pops up is Sea Sparrow, but that has 19km range, it’s a defensive system they coudn’t have possibly detected that, it’s nowhere near balistic…
This (probably) isn’t capability surprise for US and Israel, but is sure as hell is for me…
Found it, Silver Sparrow, “testing” missile for the Arrow and Arrow 2 israeli air defense systems…
Can’t find any characteristics about it on the internet, though. No matter, We more or less know what they detected.
@Anonymous: The Sea Sparrow is a short range air defense missile so its not this one. The Silver Sparrow is an Israeli anti-missile missile (missile interceptor). What the Israelis/Americans fired and which the Russians detected were probably Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Why do they call them ‘ballistic’? Tomahawk is a cruise missile, no?
@Anonymous:Why do they call them ‘ballistic’? Tomahawk is a cruise missile, no?
Absolutely correct. I think that this is a simple mistake. Though when I said that it was most likely a Tomahawk this was just a guess on my part.
@Everybody: actually, now I am also getting confused with this “Silver Sparrow” missile thing. Some sources say it is a target missile for the Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system. Then maybe the missile was really ballistic, supposed to replicate Scud or Tochka flight profiles. I honestly don’t know as I never heard about this “Silver Sparrow” missile before this morning.
Anybody got a clear picture here?
If yes, please help us make sense of this. Thanks!
The Saker
Well, here’s what they’re saying:
The Silver Sparrow developed by RAFAEL is an advanced version of the Sparrow air-launched ballistic target missile’. The Sparrow targets have a modular warhead section carrying different payloads such as inert, high explosive or water. The 27.5 (8.39 mw) long missile weighs over three tons and is designed to simulate Shihab 3 class missiles (Iranian ballistic missiles with 1,500-2,000 km range). The new target is an essential segment in the testing of the Arrow-3 exo-atmospheric interceptor.
More at the source:
http://defense-update.com/20130903_silver_sparrow_shihab-3_target_tested.html
Though, there is difference in claims of number of rockets. This morning RIA Novosti reported they’ve been briefed about two, the Israelis say it was one…
A bit fishy, and I don’t trust whatever the Israelis say anyway.
Oh, and the last paragraph of that article, clearly proves you right – Russia is in fact briefing Syria on threats:
The test was conducted at a time of high tension in the region, with Russian and NATO naval forces massing off the Syrian coast. An earlier report by Moscow has indicated the Russian sensors have detected two ballistic missiles launched from the same region of the Mediterranean sea. However, Russian sources in Damascus were quick to affirm that there was no evidence of a missile strike on Syria. The announcement revealed the fact that the Russians are providing early warning to the Syrians, about potentially threatening activities over the East Mediterranean.
‘Schlock and Awe,’ Israel missile test fraud
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/04/321974/israels-missile-test-claim-a-lie/
@Anonymous0524: PressTV is confusing the old British “Sea Sparrow” with the new Israeli “Silver Sparrow”.