Moscow has delivered three battalion sets of S-300PM-2 advanced S-300 air defense missiles to Syria to protect the country’s troops deployed in the war-torn Arab country in the wake of last month’s downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane during an Israeli air strike in Latakia.
In early October, Russia donated these three battalion sets of S-300 missile systems of eight launchers each of to Syria, which had been repaired in Russia where they had been used before being replaced by the more advanced S-400 system.
The S-300PM-2 system is equipped with a more advanced radar station, an improved target illumination and guidance station (firing radar) and a mobile command posts.
Launchers have also been upgraded enabling the use of more advanced, powerful and long-range missiles, compared to the “classic” S-300.
Unlike conventional S-300s, the modernized air defense system can fire medium-range tactical ballistic missiles, while retaining its ability to destroy aerial targets up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away.
The S-300PM-2 currently deployed in Syria will not be operated by Iranians because the only specialists who can operate this system are in Russia. Iranians have never operated such systems.
The S-300PM-2 also boasts improved anti-jamming capability allowing it to operate in conditions of electronic warfare.
The automatic control system on the export PMU-2 version does not allow it to interact with Russian air defense systems that have been transferred to the Syrian armed forces.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point Military News 2018.
