Russian arms supplies to Syria:

Russia to honor deal to sell P-800 anti-ship missiles to Syria

RIA Novosti

07:14 17/09/2010 WASHINGTON, September 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will honor the contract to sell the P-800 Yakhont supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said.

"It is the 2007 contract. The issue of selling the missiles to Syria was raised during the talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates... Undoubtedly, it [the contract] would be fulfilled by the Russian side," the Russian minister said.

Israeli media said in late August that the country was working to thwart Syria's plans to get the highly accurate missiles, which Israel considers a threat to its navy vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. Kremlin aide Sergei Prikhodko dismissed the media reports.

The P-800 Yakhont missiles (known as P-800 Oniks in Russia) have a range of 300 kilometers, carry a 200-kilogram warhead and feature a unique ability to cruise several meters above the surface, making it difficult to detect and intercept them.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2010/09/mil-100917-rianovosti02.htm

I guess this will have the Israelis jumping up and down about selling to states that support terrorism...

The Yakhont is of course the export model of the Onyx which has no land attack capability... unless you apply the technology developed for Brahmos... and if it was that easy India would have bought Yakhont and then updated it themselves.

AFAIK the Yakhont is able to be launched from air, land and sea and undersea platforms... is there any word on which model they want?
I would guess the shipborne model most likely along with the shore based system perhaps just as likely.

It is sophisticated enough to determine the radar signatures of target vessels so it shouldn't be too hard for them to load the signatures of the Israeli and other vessels they want to target so that it will ignore civilian shipping in the region.
The guidance system was supposed to include some of the intelligence of the Granit system, though with a range of 300km it doesn't need the satellite support system that Granit can use with its 700km range. Aircraft with passive sensors should be able to identify naval targets at 3-400km by their emissions alone and a bearing will be enough to launch a strike on a target with a number of Yakhonts where most will fly low and receive target data from the lead missile flying at about 300m. Once the lead missile detects the target or target group it will do a quick scan and pass the radar picture to the other missiles lower down and will assign a missile to a target based on its database of signatures. Larger vessels assigned more missiles than smaller missiles. The lead missile will then descend and the attack will progress with the missiles using the downloaded radar picture to find their assigned target and attack it.

A very potent weapon.

Of course suicide for Syrian navy if they use it without justification.

speed is only one thing ....both the Vulcan and Granit could performing evasive maneuvers to dodge a missile if it was heading their way from what I have read. Only to some degree as much as possible without compromising flight performance envelope to do so. (bleeding speed.) ..this all could be a fairy tale though.

I do remember though that Moskit would do a evasive snake maneuvers automatically though only at it's final stage. 3M-54E from the klub family also does variety of evasive maneuvers after it goes into it's supersonic terminal stage to maximise it's chance reaching and hitting it's target.


Any idea if Onyx performance evasive maneuvers Garry ?


Edit


I think even if Russia sold Syria a banana, Isreal would jump up and down and woam at the mouth.

I would guarantee it performs evasive manoeuvres in its terminal phase to make hitting it with cannon fire near impossible. GRANIT, MOSKIT, ONYX, YAKHONT, BRAHMOS all do it too.
When the incoming missile is moving at 800m/s+ then the aim point is going to be well in front of it. If Phalanx starts engaging at its max effective range of 1.6km then the projectile flight time to that distance will be about 1.5 seconds, which means the missile itself will be (assuming 800m/s of the target) 1.2km + 1.6km away, or 2.8km from the ship. The phalanx will start firing and its first rounds from its burst will arrive 1.6km from the ship, so the incoming missile has travelled 1.2km before the first rounds have a chance of hitting it. A few up and down manouvers of 10 degrees or so from 3km from the ship will result in that initial burst going too high or into the sea because a 10 degree climb over 1.2km will be dozens of metres above the level flight altitude of the missile... if it only climbs for 600m and then starts to dive and turn to one side then not only the first burst will miss by dozens of metres but the instant correction will also lead the Phalanx to overcorrect and spray wildly.
These manouvers are not 90 degree turns and will not slow the missile too much so that Phalanx still gets maybe 100 rounds to hit the target before impact and it hasn't started well. Even a random corkscrew manouver will lead to a small fraction of the possible hits actually hitting the target.
Those rounds that do hit will have to deal with lightweight Ti armour protecting the warhead.

My money is on the Yakhont... and the US Navy replacing the Phalanx with SEA RAM suggest they agree with me.

Onyx is the missile the Russians use, Yakhont is the range and warhead limited export model. Brahmos has an enormous electronic and sensor upgrade to add land attack capability in addition to being able to hit sea targets.
The Onyx is a long range Yakhont with nuclear warhead options.
This system is the land based truck launched Yakhont but it comes in lots of versions including surface and subsurface and air launched models.
Yakhont is anti ship only and has no land attack capability (like Onyx).
Converting it to land attack capability would be like converting an AMRAAM to anti tank use... ie all new guidance and warhead fusing etc etc.
The Indians wanted a missile to attack land targets and they spent quite a bit of money and got the makers of the Yakhont to help them. If India couldn't do it alone then I rather doubt the Syrians could.

Of course as you mention the Israelis are in one breath upset at the sale of a banana, and in the other breath they will say that it is OK because they have a defence against Bananas and will share this defence to render Russian Bananas useless.

Russian Bananas are only cheap and simple copies of much better American bananas anyway because Russia has no intelligent people... or something like that.

Forget Yakhonts... how many shipping containers are heading to Syria too!!!!

Russian arms exporter denies MiG-31 fighter contract with Syria

RIA Novosti

13:42 27/10/2010 LE BOURGET, October 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia does not have a contract to supply MiG-31 Foxhound fighter jets to Syria, the head of the Russian state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Wednesday.

Media rumors about the sales of at least six MiG-31 aircraft to Damascus under a 2007 contract sparked criticism in the West and Israel, which consider arming Syria a threat to regional security.

"The existence of a contract on the delivery of MiG-31 interceptors to Syria is a journalistic hoax," Rosoboronexport General Director Anatoly Isaykin told reporters at the Euronaval 2010 exhibition in Paris.

The MiG-31 Foxhound is a two-seater supersonic interceptor aircraft developed to replace the MiG-25 Foxbat. It is equipped with two D-30F6 turbofan two-shaft engines with a common afterburner and a variable supersonic nozzle, which allow the aircraft to fly at supersonic speeds of up to Mach 2.83.

The interceptor also features unique air-to-air missiles capable of hitting targets at ranges exceeding 200 kilometers (125 miles), including aircraft with stealth capabilities, cruise missiles, and supersonic aircraft.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2010/10/mil-101027-rianovosti03.htm

Of course we don't. We ended engine production and are cannabalising ours to keep them running.

Whats with MIG-29M that are supposed to be build fo Syria?

Whats with MIG-29M that are supposed to be build fo Syria?

AFAIK the Migs were going to be a gift, possibly to improve relations to open up discussions on the use of a port in Syria for Russia to base its operations in the Med.

It was never mentioned but I suspect the aircraft involved would have been Mig-29s taken from storage and probably given a minor upgrade to SMT standard.

Last I heard the Syrians and Russians had decided that the Syrians would not need Mig-29s as much as a few other items, I seem to remember helicopters being mentioned.

Russia confirms plans to supply Syria with Yakhont missiles
Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told journalists on Saturday Russia has not dropped its plans to supply Syria with Yakhont missiles.

"The contract [on supplies] is in progress," Serdyukov said

http://en.rian.ru/news/20110226/162769207.html

So its true after all...

Just wait for the tantrums... US and Israel step forward.

Yakhont is selling like hell.

Indonesia/Venezuela and now Syria.

And why not... it is a nice weapon that will likely do what it says on the label.

For Syria it will be very useful... I would expect they will buy the ground based BAL system, whereas the Venezuelans and Indonesians could use the ground based system and/or the Flanker launched version.

Very potent but only dangerous to those who put their ships in harms way...

Israel reiterates concern over Russian missile supply deal with Syria

Israel on Monday once again requested that Russia not supply Syria with anti-ship cruise missiles.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said in September that Russia would honor a contract signed in 2007 for the Yakhont (Sapphire) cruise missiles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the missiles may fall into the hands of the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah.

"Israel is against the supply of these missiles to Syria," Israeli Ambassador to Russia Dorit Golender said at a RIA Novosti news conference, adding that the issue was raised during Netanyahu's visit to Russia last month.

The supersonic Yakhont missile has a range of 300 kilometers, carries a 200-kilogram warhead and is able to cruise only 5-15 meters above the water, making it difficult to detect and intercept it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the missiles may fall into the hands of the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah.

So what if it did? They wouldn't be able to use it effectively anyway. This isn't an RPG-7 we are talking about here.

"Russia has supplied two Bastion coastal missile systems to Syria, the result of a controversial US$300 million arms deal inked with Assad four years ago. Russian sources claim the new missile system will “enable Syria to protect its entire coast from a possible seaborne attack.”

One Bastion battery consists of 18 mobile launchers, each carrying two 3M55E Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles capable of striking surface targets on land and at sea at a range of 300 kilometers. The Yakhont is armed with a 200-kilogram warhead and seriously endangers vessels of the US Navy’s Six Fleet patrolling the eastern Mediterranean, as well as Israeli warships and Israeli offshore rigs. In a show of force, the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, the US Navy’s newest, briefly parked outside Syrian waters last month, but has since returned to its home port in Norfolk, Virginia."

So the Yakhonts scared of Bush. And the Kuznetsov task force is of spain, soon through Gibraltar.
Rumors have it that several SSN`s is acompyning the ships. That would mean a great deal in terms of firepower, but almost useless in show of flag.
However, they would be ideal to discover any US Nuc subs, that is certainly shadowing the K. Also a good opertunity to test modern submarine equipment against serious opposition.

I wonder if the Israily navy will get in the way, maybe a boarding party?
That would be a laugh, though the scenario cannot be deemed impossible. Who knows what weapons the russian ships may be smuggling?
Remember the "proof" US had against IRAQ weapons of mass destruction.

The missiles are already in Syria.

Even if an Israeli group boarded a Russian transport vessel delivering Yakhonts what are they going to do.

These weapons are legal and are not being smuggled.

Israel has no right to take them, and if they did that would be an act of piracy, for which all Israeli vessels involved could be sunk.

Any Russian transports delivering weapons to Syria have no need to go anywhere near Israeli waters, therefore any request by Israeli boats to inspect her cargo in international waters that lead to the seizure of legal items would be an illegal act that would likely result in Russian military vessels sinking Israeli vessels in the worst case scenario, but more likely the seizure of the Israeli vessel vessel involved with the crew and captain on charges of piracy.

From memory the rules in that regard are pretty old and fairly draconian... sink their vessel and make them walk the plank is one option the Russian navy has already used on Somali pirates.

I rather doubt the USS Bush ran away from the Yakhonts, what they moved them away for is to avoid a confrontation because although it will benefit the US a lot if Assads moderate Shia regime could be replaced by a radical sunni pro Saudi, but MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY ANTI IRANIAN government, the benefits don't outweigh a conflict with Russia.

The USS Bush was an attempt to call Russias bluff. Russias decision to send the Kuznetsov and to deliver the Yakhonts was the Russians putting a winning hand of cards on the table.

With two Yakhont batteries the Syrians can defend a 1,200km stretch of beach from landing forces and up to 250km or so out to sea from those beaches, though they will likely be positioned near Tartus to defend the Russian Navy base there.

It is easy for the Israeli navy to look tough stopping civilian vessels and brutalising and killing largely unarmed people, but I rather doubt they would try the same stuff with the crew on board a Russian navy vessel.

The Russians wont turn a blind eye to a USS Liberty type incident.

Russia to Sell 36 Yak-130 Jets to Syria

RIA Novosti

13:04 23/01/2012

MOSCOW, January 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Syria have signed a $550-million contract on the delivery of 36 Yakovlev Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer, the Kommersant daily quoted on Monday a source close to Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport as saying.

Under the deal struck in late December, the jets are to be supplied to Syria once Damascus makes a prepayment, the source said.

A source in the aircraft production industry told the newspaper the aircraft construction company Irkut is able to produce the jets for Syria in a relatively short time.

Contacted by RIA Novosti, both Rosoboronexport and Irkut declined to comment.

Analysts say the contract is “risky” given the worsening satiation in Syria and the growing international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad over his crackdown on protesters.

Ruslan Pukhov, who heads the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Stategies and Technologies, said the contract was “certainly a big success of Russia’s leaders and arms traders.” But it’s clear, he said, that “the international community, led by the United States, has made a decision to crush Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and this may lead to the contract being disrupted and Russia suffering image and financial losses.”

The contract was apparently signed when the situation in Syria was “not as dramatic as it is now,” Pukhov said, adding that getting the Russian jets has likely lost its relevance for Damascus.

“The Yak-130 plane is superfluous for attacking insurgents – these goals can be served by cheaper planes,” the analyst said. At the same time, he said, the jet cannot endure air battles with Israeli, Turkish, or Western coalition’s aircraft, should a military conflict erupt in Syria.

Russia has opposed international sanctions, including an arms embargo, against Syria, where the death toll from clashes between protesters and government troops has reached 5,400, according to the United Nations.

Earlier this month, the United States expressed concerns over weapons deliveries to Damascus following media reports about a Russian ship loaded with arms docking in the Syrian port of Tartus.

Without explicitly confirming the report of the arms shipment, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week Russia was not going to justify its actions before the West because it was not violating “any international agreements or any [UN] Security Council resolutions.”

“We are only trading items with Syria that are not banned by international law,” he said.


http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/syria/2012/syria-120123-rianovosti02.htm

Yakhont and BUK-M2 delivered and MIG-29M and YAK-130 in preparations.
Now they need get rid of those pesky terrorists and its all good to go.

Russia Sells Syria Yak-130 Light Fighters

Russia and Syria have signed a $550-million contract on the delivery of 36 Yakovlev Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer, the Kommersant daily reported Monday.

The report quoted a source close to Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport who indicated the aerospace company Irkut would produce the jets for Syria in the coming months.

Both Rosoboronexport and Irkut declined to comment on the deall. However, the source said that under the deal, struck in December,the jets are to be supplied to Syria once Damascus makes an initial deposit on the deal, the source said.

Analysts say the contract is “risky” given the worsening satiation in Syria and the growing international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad over his crackdown on protesters.

Ruslan Pukhov, who heads the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Stategies and Technologies, told RIA Movosti the contract was “certainly a big success of Russia’s leaders and arms traders.”

However, Pukhov cautioned that “the international community, led by the United States, has made a decision to crush Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and this may lead to the contract being disrupted and Russia suffering image and financial losses.”

The contract was apparently signed when the situation in Syria was “not as dramatic as it is now,” Pukhov opined.

Analysts say the craft would be a poor choice for fighting the growing insurgency faced by Assad's regime and is not capable of emerging victorious in air-to-air battles with Israeli, Turkish, or Western aircraft should a conventional war erupt.

The planes are only the latest arms sale to Assad's regime by Russia. who has opposed sanctions, including an arms embargo, on Syria. Russia, which has billions invested in Syrian trade and contracts, recently sold the advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Damascus.

Earlier this month, the United States expressed concerns over weapons deliveries to Damascus following media reports about a Russian ship loaded with arms docking in the Syrian port of Tartus.

The official civilian death toll in Assad's nearly year-long crackdown on dissidents has risen to 5,400, according to United Nations human rights officials. Assad's regime says some 2,000 security personnel have also been killed by armed insurgents - mostly comprised of army defectors.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/152018#.T6O4vlJuUcY

Russian Arms for Syria No Threat to Protesters - Lavrov

Russia is completing deliveries of air defense weapons to Syria under contracts concluded earlier and is not supplying any arms that can be used against protesters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

Representatives of Human Rights First, a U.S.-based advocacy group, announced in late May that a Russian ship allegedly carrying weapons had docked at the Syrian port of Tartus, which hosts a Russian naval base.

“We are not supplying the Syrian government with arms that even an overwrought imagination could suppose are being used against peaceful protesters,” Lavrov said.

Syria is one of Russia’s major weapons clients, and Moscow has opposed proposals for an arms embargo on Damascus.

“We are completing the implementation of contracts signed and pre-paid long ago on deliveries of air defense weapons that could be used only if Syria is subjected to military intervention from abroad. We are not delivering anything else,” Lavrov said.

Russia has supplied Syria with Bastion coastal missile systems with Yakhont cruise missiles and Buk surface-to-air missile systems under a contract signed in 2007.

The top Russian diplomat said that in contrast to Moscow “our U.S. colleagues are supplying countries of the Persian Gulf region with the very type of arms that could be used against peaceful demonstrators."

Lavrov’s words echo last week’s statement of President Vladimir Putin, who during the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel opposed information that Russian arms supplied to Syria might be used against protesters.

According to UN estimates, about 10,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of a popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, which started with peaceful protests but have since grown increasingly militarized.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120609/173941569.html

“We are not supplying the Syrian government with arms that even an overwrought imagination could suppose are being used against peaceful protesters,” Lavrov said.

Lets not beat around the bush... lets be honest... there are no peaceful protests in Syria, their is a Sunni insurrection trying to overthrow the moderate regime of Assad.

If the opposition gets into power it will be by force because the Sunnis believe in democracy like Hitler and Stalin did...

Well here is final confirmation that Iskander system is NOT being delivered to Syria as there is no contract

ANATOLY ISAIKIN 02/13/13: RUSSIA NOT TO SUPPLY SYRIA TACTICAL MISSILE COMPLEXES "ISKANDER"
February 13 2013.

    ITAR-TASS . Russia not to supply Syria tactical missile complexes "Iskander" contracts for their supply is not present. The statement was made ​​Director General of "Rosoboronexport" Anatoly Isaikin a press conference at the press center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    "The total volume of Russian exports of military goods Syria takes place 13-14" - said General Director of "Rosoboronexport". He called a "complete nonsense" about allegedly perpetrated by Russia supplying Syria tactical missile complexes "Iskander". "No," Iskander "we have supplied Syria, no contracts to supply them we do not" - said Isaikin.

    He confirmed that most of Russia to supply Syria under earlier contracts air defenses, but did not specify which ones.
http://www.itar-tass.com/

http://www.sana-syria.com/eng/22/2013/02/14/467212.htm

MOSCOW, (SANA) – A Russian military source said Syria received a batch of anti-aircraft missiles and Panzer-C1 air defense systems at the beginning of the current year.

The source said that the air defense systems were delivered in accordance with signed contracts between the two countries, pointing out that these systems were shipped to Syria by sea.

Anatoly Isaykin, Director of the Russian Rosoboronexport Firm, stressed that technical military cooperation with Syria is progressing under international law, indicating that his country exported air defense systems to Syria according to signed contracts.

Panzer-C1 air defense systems are highly accurate that could target all current and future air attack means available at an altitudeof 20 kilo meters high.

The speed of each missile is 1300 meters per second, as the system allows striking four targets at once. It also could hit land and marine targets, and is to direct its fire from mobile and fixed sites.

R. Milhem / H. Said

In peace time it would take a year or two to master such a system, in the current conditions I suspect it will be interesting to see if they can get it to perform properly.

Such systems are very reliant on the tactics used and the quality of the people using it.