Israeli Air Force Trains to Destroy Russian Air Defence Systems in syria.
Israel to hit Russian S-300 missile systems in Syria
Photos, believed to be taken in the Negev desert and unearthed on Twitter, show inflatable dummies of Soviet-designed Osa and Kub/Kvadrat surface-to-air missile systems, which the Israeli Air Force is allegedly using during training.
Published by the unofficial ‘rambo54’ account on 11 November, is showing imitation copies of Russian-made air defense systems used for realistic training to Israeli troops in a desert environment.
Inflatable targets and copies are being used to give aircrew on exercise a sense of realism when identifying potential targets on the ground.
Blow-up copies of 9K33 Osa, 2K12 Kub mobile surface-to-air missile systems and a commercial truck fitted with a visual modification kit to resemble Pantsir-S1 short-range air defense system was spotted at the military range in the Negev desert in Israel.
Inflatable targets and copies are being used to give aircrew on exercise a sense of realism when identifying potential targets on the ground.
https://twitter.com/reutersanders/status/1061693051024871425
The report comes just days after Israel’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Environmental Protection Ze’ev Elkin said that Russia’s deliveries of S-300 air defence systems were “a big mistake” and that Tel Aviv would attack them if they are used against Israeli jets.
“By shipping these kinds of weapons to Syrians, Russia bears partial responsibility for their use. Usually, Israel reacts to attacks on its territory and its aircrafts not through international demarches, but with practical actions. Actions would undoubtedly take place, should [an attack] occur, against the launchers used to attack Israeli territory or Israeli planes,” he said.
Israel, in turn, said that the arms sale would embolden and escalate the Syrian war. Last week, an Israeli official said that the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles are “a complicated challenge” for Israel. The official added:
“We’re dealing with it in different ways, not necessarily by preventing the delivery.”
Earlier, in April this year, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman was pretty clear about that country may strike the Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft defense systems in Syria if they are used against Israel.
“One thing should be clear – if someone fires on our planes, we will destroy them,” Lieberman said in an interview with the Israeli website Ynet. “What’s important to us is that the weapons defense systems that the Russians transfer to Syria are not used against us. If they are used against us, we will act against them.”
In early October, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced it had finalized the delivery of 49 units of S-300 air defence systems to Syria in order to boost the security of Russian servicemen. The decision was made in late September in light of the inadvertent destruction of a Russian Il-20 military reconnaissance aircraft by Syria air defences responding to an Israeli air raid.
The Israeli Air Force has long been preparing to destroy targets such as the S-300, but before that, it was assumed that these would be Iranian air defense systems.
Since 2000, Israel has been annual discreetly training and testing maneuvers designed to defeat missile systems Russia has deployed in the Middle East. The Israeli Air Force has used jointly military exercises with Greece and Bulgaria to prepare for a potential situation where it will have to perform missions against the S-300 surface-to-air missile system.
According to the i24news.tv, the exercises were used to test how the S-300 system locks onto targets, gather data on its tracking radar and to see if the system could be blinded or tricked.
The Aviationist also noted that thanks to the exercise in Greece, the Israeli Air Force has gathered important data about the Russian SAM system and had the opportunity to test and improve evasion tactics during simulated attacks against ground targets protected by S-300 batteries.
