Russian military intervention and aid to Syria #4

Since you mentioned BM-27, i'm thinking it's the 9T452 transporter-loader due to tracing the Silhouette

Edit

RT have a news clip showing inside the base, there seems to be a few L-39 cover up under the harden hangers, and out in the open looks like an aircraft grave yard of Mig 15/17/19 not sure if the L-39 are in running order, could be useful to the Syrian air force if they are and are capable of ground attack. Just a crazy thought imagine the Syrian air force overhauled the Mig 15/17/19 and started using them against ISIS scum lol, now that would be making do with what you had lol. Although i think they will all be rotten by now, but if they were in flying condition they could be useful for strafing runs both the Mig 15 and 17 have 1x 37mm gun and 2x 23mm guns and the Mig-19 has 3x 30mm guns not bad for strafing, and all of them can carrying bombs and rocket pods.

I suppose the L-39's would be flyable (after a visit to the mechanic). They use them quite regularly for ground attack in other places...as for the old Migs it would be nice to see them used but I'd say they've gone to airplane heaven a long time ago

Couple more pics from the base...looks like they've still got an Neva (SA-3) battery




https://twitter.com/maytham956/status/664410548331634688

PapaDragon wrote:Looks like BM-27 Uragan MLRS...maybe...

I think you're right

What's this, not a crater on the ground. What kind of siege is that?

Heartbeer wrote:What's this, not a crater on the ground. What kind of siege is that?

It is an old fashioned kind of siege, where you surround the target and try and starve them out. Then occasionally you have a go at overrunning the place.

The attackers did not, AFAIK, have a large amount of tanks or artillery or probably thousands of shells to fire due to logistical supply constraints. The airfield is huge, many square km. The infrastructure hardened with much underground, in anticipation of withstanding an Israeli attack. From the reports, much of the semi civilian area, barracks etc seem to have been in the attackers hands. We have only seen film from limited areas, there will be shell craters but not many of the big ones from 152mm or larger weapons we have seen so often in Ukraine.

Compare that to Donetsk Airport where hundreds of tank, artillery and rocket systems pounded the place with tens of thousands of rounds. The destruction of the completely unhardened buildings was virtually total and the ground around them peppered with craters, yet if you look at drone videos of the runway you will see that after a couple of days with a few bulldozers and lorry loads of stone it would be usable.

Even given that it is a flat semi desert, how they kept hold of that area with so few soldiers is remarkable.

US-Turkey Invasion Derailed by Syrian Army Triumph at Kuweires
By Mike Whitney -NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Mike's analysis of the significance of the win at Kuweires. I'm curious if anyone agrees with him.

The last para summarizes his main points:

The fact is, Kuweires changes everything. ISIS is on the run, the myriad other terrorist organizations are progressively losing ground, Assad is safe in Damascus, the borders will soon be protected, and the US-Turkey plan to invade has effectively been derailed. Barring some extraordinary, unforeseeable catastrophe that could reverse the course of events; it looks like the Russian-led coalition will eventually achieve its objectives and win the war. Washington will have no choice but to return to the bargaining table and make the concessions necessary to end the hostilities.

JohninMK wrote:Even given that it is a flat semi desert, how they kept hold of that area with so few soldiers is remarkable.

Couple more videos from the base...pretty big place

Drone footage
https://twitter.com/Hamosh84/status/664578619436613632

BKP wrote:US-Turkey Invasion Derailed by Syrian Army Triumph at Kuweires
By Mike Whitney -NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Mike's analysis of the significance of the win at Kuweires. I'm curious if anyone agrees with him.

It's too early for triumphalism, but if they secure the base properly and use it to push further out, sure it's a game changer at least in the North. If the latest reports are correct, sounds like significant reinforcements are moving in

Siempre_Leal wrote:Since you mentioned BM-27, i'm thinking it's the 9T452 transporter-loader due to tracing the Silhouette

Good eye  fits the silloute spot on

JohninMK wrote:

ult wrote:

Russian Ministry of Defense wrote:Today a group of journalists has arrived at the ‪#‎Hmeymim‬ airbase in the course of a press-tour organized by the Russian Defence Ministry. The journalists come from 12 countries of America, Europe and Asia
Almost 50 media representatives will familiarize themselves not only with combat operations conducted by the pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces, but also with preparation for missions, organization of everyday life, combat aircraft maintenance, and combat sorties.
The Russian Defence Ministry presented to the foreign journalists the objective monitoring data received from the unmanned aerial vehicles concerning the results of combat operations carried out by the Russian aviation against militants’ infrastructure on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. ‪#‎SYRIA‬

https://www.facebook.com/%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%8B-%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8-1492252324350852/

Brilliant PR move. US/NATO have never done this type of event.

Wonder if the BBC and US TV was there.

TF1 journalist there (woman) said something really funny: "Russian planes in october did up to 70 strikes, 10x more than our planes"

70?

that's your daily sorties and not even close to the daily strikes... Man i swear, the clowns who work as "miliary specialists" and who give this kind of nonsensical "source" to reporters are to be trialed.

BKP wrote:The fact is, Kuweires changes everything. ISIS is on the run, the myriad other terrorist organizations are progressively losing ground, Assad is safe in Damascus, the borders will soon be protected, and the US-Turkey plan to invade has effectively been derailed. .

Not really.. the kuweires military airport only advantage is to shorten the distance from the
battle zone to the military base. And allow more easily a continues non stop operation in Aleppo
by the Syrian Army with the backup of Syrian airforce. it will be highly benefician for hellicopters.
but planes not much unless Russia deploy more combat jets in Syria lets say 4 more Su-34 and 4 more SU-30s and 6 more Mi-24 planes.  

It will help however the Reinforce Syria air defenses ,to be more closer to seal Aleppo airspace and deploy small range fast and mobile air defenses. It will make more difficult any operations of
US airforces and its coalition .

The real problem for Syria is that they are busy fighting ISIS and Alqaeda.. and they are forced
to focus first in retaking and closing the border with turkey.. and if they shutdown any US or its coalition plane which they can do from Latakia..it will force them to go into a hot fight with NATO and or its gulf allies and Interrupt their advances against ISIS and Alnusra.  So until
Now Syria is on week position to pick a fight with US and its allies.. so needs to avoid it..unless
their lives are at risk. However the real game changer will be the tanking of Aleppo. that will allow The Syrian army to start closing the supply lines of ISIS from Turkey.. cut it in half or more. and any Supply lines to ISIS or Alnusra will be withing range of Artillery from Aleppo if captured or from hellicopters and Russian planes will arrive in almost no time to the battlefield
and close by air supply lines from Turkey.  What will be really game changer is either Russia
closeing the border with Turkey or Kurds doing that.. But Erdogan already don't allow kurds to move an inch close the border ,their airforce bomb them ,so probably it will be only closed by Russia and Syrian army.



From efrin to kobane is the lifeline of all terrorist groups ISIS and Alqaeda and others.
closing that border will truly end the war since the Syrian army will starve to death the terrorist..and they will be without food and munition in just a month or two. and American Airplanes will be unable to fill the gap by air..with Syrian Airdefenses locking on their planes.
So it will be officially lost the war for Americans.  Only the southern front with Israel will still continue. but that ones is quite weak , is amazing how Uneffective Israel have been to penetrate
Syria from the south. Their terrorist have gained some  territory but have been stopped.

Syrian army needs to capture allepo completely and from there they will be very close to the supply lines of the terrorist ,effectively will be able to interrupt it. Civilians drones could also be used to monitor the terrorist movements.  

What will end the war (if Syria maintain the territory the have in control)
is the capture of Aleppo and IDlib. that will fully seal the border and best of all it will stop
any American operations in western Syria or anywhere close to Russia airbase. They still can enter however from Raqqa or from IRAQ.. but any operations in western Syria will be next to impossible since will have any of their planes a radar lock at all times.

But for Now taking Aleppo will complicate things enough for US airforce and its alliance.
To the point that it will for them to change its operations to the desert of Syria in the east.
or to the south of Syria near Israel or simply consider to give up. Taking Idlib and Aleppo and securing it and reiforcing it with air defenses will mean the end of any buffer zone that could be practical to maintain... because there is nothing in really valuable from strategy point of view in Syria desert in the east near IRAQ.. or Syrian oil fields.

Ideally for Syria.. they should have their Pansirs defenses in the front line withing range
of all Turkey Border their range is only like 30km.. that will cover Turkey border if deployed in Aleppo. S-300 or S-400s left for real emergency in case Syria already in a declared war with their neighbors.

Kuweires main advantage is that is shorten the time probably by half for Russia and Syrian airforces to do operations in Aleppo. Saudi Arabia is calling for all jihadist in the world to rush to aleppo and not allow it to be captured because they know its capture will be turning point of the war to Syrian army favor and will truly complicate supply lines to terrorist. Since the Syrian army could use artillery to reach their supply lines trucks or withing few minutes their hellicopters can assault their positions from Aleppo.

The kurds however if do anything stupid ,like making an alliance with US ,it could allow
the war to continue for a a year or more even if Russia seals the efrin to kobani gate.

This is why Russia is flirting with Kurds.. and almost everyone does. they can be very useful
to any side of the conflict. Russia for example could use Kurds to take revenge on Turkey for their war on Syria.. and provide advanced weapons to fight by proxy turkey army ,weaken it as they did to syria and divide the nation.



[b] Something like cannot be underestimated ,how serious threat to turkey this will be.. this will be highly on the interest of Russia..even more than an alliance with Syria.because it could use the kurds to break NATO member of Turkey and literary disband the nation.
So Russia finally can get rid of that torn at the black sea borders. that could close very easily
any trade of Russia from mediterranean in case of a war. and Turkey is used by NATO as the main center of operations of terrorist around the world.. from there they can be smuggled into Syria or IRAQ or send to Ukraine to attack Russia.. So it will really be on the interest of Russia
to help kurds get their kurdistan for the destruction of turkey. NATO will be hopeless in such a war... with Russia arming them from Syria ,And IRAN from their side.. However the Kurds
in IRAQ are the final piece ,because they are pro Israel money and pro americans..but also have good relations with Iran. So is a real mess. If Russia get an alliance with all kurds it will be the end of Turkey and they could even use the kurds to attack saudi Arabia.. the advantage of Kurds is their zones in Turkey are unconquerable ,high mountains inside turkey, is like another afganistan but with Russia ,IRAN and Syria supplying weapons to them.

Siempre_Leal wrote:Since you mentioned BM-27, i'm thinking it's the 9T452 transporter-loader due to tracing the Silhouette

Edit

Kudos to you +1

A lot is being said about the Kuweries airbase and its siege and recently about the causalities. This article will give a good insight into the airbase. Good one, should have posted earlier. Article from May 2015.



Battlefront Syria: Kweres airbase
http://spioenkop.blogspot.in/2015/05/battlefront-syria-kweres-airbase.html

Kweres, the entry sign of which can be seen above, was originally constructed by Poles in the early sixties to serve as the SyAAF's main training base. It officially remains home to the Aviation Academy of the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF), comprised of the Basic Flying School, using the MBB-SIAT 223K1 Flamingo and the PAC MFI-17 Mushshak, and the Advanced Flying School, using the L-39ZO and the L-39ZA. Most SyAAF pilots once got their wings here, which makes the airbase of high symbolic value.

The Basic Flying School quickly wound down operations after the start of the Civil War however, and its aircraft remain stored in various parts of the airbase. The SyAAF has thus been unable to train new pilots in Syria itself, further increasing the burden on the already tired and often depressed pilots, most of which are fully aware that more often than not civilians are on the receiving end of the rockets and (barrel) bombs. Another training facility; Mennegh, once home to the Helicopter Flying School, was already overrun on the 5th of August 2013. A limited form of advanced training was continued on L-39s and helicopters present elsewhere in Syria.

The defence of Kweres is in hands of an unknown number of SyAA, NDF and SyAAF soldiers, airmen and mechanics, most of which present at the airbase since the start of the revolution. It is believed that the garrison was reinforced in the summer of 2014 after the Free Syrian Army was forced to abandon its positions around the airbase in light of the Islamic State's advance.

An S-125 surface-to-air missile (SAM) battery located closely to Kweres evacuated all its equipment and personnel to Kweres to prevent being overrun by the Free Syrian Army somewhere in the 2012-2013 timeframe. Although the SAM battery was subsequently re-activated at Kweres and remained operational as of 2013, it is deemed unlikely that the battery currently remains active.

The twenty-six anti-aircraft guns present at the airbase (two from the nearby S-125 SAM site) provide the heavy firepower as no tanks or artillery are stationed at the airbase. This meant the defenders had to be creative, and the 14.5mm ZPU-4s, 23mm ZU-23s and 57mm AZP S-60s taken from four anti-aircraft emplacements were strategically placed throughout the airbase to attain the maximum amount of tactical value, sometimes even on top of Kweres' eleven Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS). It is interesting to note that most of the ZPU-4s had two of their four barrels taken away, which were then put on DIY mounts so as to increase the amount of ground covered by heavy weaponry.

A photo collage of some of the fallen defenders was published on the 7th of May 2015 by one of the defenders, commemorating eleven KIAs so far, including the commander of Kweres: General al-Muhanna.

^ Probably this was the causalities till 7th May 2015 and then the causalities from the recent attack just as the Tiger forces were advancing towards the base. In addition to this, the final push to the airbase cost 57 causalities for the SAA.


As usual we also have the spin from the western propagada like this one below who probably want to show that SAA lost a third of its defenders...see what they write

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11987256/Russia-and-Iran-backed-offensive-helps-regime-break-Isils-two-year-siege-on-Syrian-airbase.html

Regime troops reached the Kweiris airbase, state television says, where almost 1,000 soldiers were trapped

State television said on Tuesday that regime troops had reached the Kweiris airbase and were in the process of securing it.

Almost a thousand soldiers had been trapped on the base, surviving through air drops of food and munitions.

Kweiris was home to the first jets used by the Syrian regime to target anti-government protesters in July 2012. But under siege it had become a morgue for soldiers who died on the base, prompting rare protests in a key regime stronghold, Tartus, that demanded the bodies were brought home.

S-400 Triumph battery acquisition radar 96L6 at RuAF Latakia air base
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=90d_1447324892#A1W5j3oigQJ3Txz9.99



original photo from Ru MoD release
http://eng.mil.ru/images/upload/2015/SAVX7322-1.jpg

Everyday life of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria
http://eng.mil.ru/en/multimedia/photo/gallery.htm?id=26078

what are you guys opinion?

Dima wrote:S-400 Triumph battery acquisition radar 96L6 at RuAF Latakia air base
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=90d_1447324892#A1W5j3oigQJ3Txz9.99



original photo from Ru MoD release
http://eng.mil.ru/images/upload/2015/SAVX7322-1.jpg

Everyday life of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria
http://eng.mil.ru/en/multimedia/photo/gallery.htm?id=26078

what are you guys opinion?

Good find.

That is a concert.

ult wrote:That is a concert.

But where though?

Siempre_Leal wrote:
But where though?

It's Hmeymim alright.

ult wrote:

Siempre_Leal wrote:
But where though?

It's Hmeymim alright.

Thank you

ult wrote:

Siempre_Leal wrote:
But where though?

It's Hmeymim alright.

Would you mind sending me the original source to these photos? would appreciated.

Siempre_Leal wrote:

ult wrote:

Siempre_Leal wrote:
But where though?

It's Hmeymim alright.

Would you mind sending me the original source to these photos? would appreciated.

vkontakte. This is a music group "голубые береты", ex-military.

I don't know who found that pic first, but they just recognized the singer. I found it here - https://vk.com/club_oruzhie_rossyi

ult wrote:

Siempre_Leal wrote:

ult wrote:

Siempre_Leal wrote:
But where though?

It's Hmeymim alright.

Would you mind sending me the original source to these photos? would appreciated.

vkontakte. This is a music group "голубые береты", ex-military.

I don't know who found that pic first, but they just recognized the singer. I found it here - https://vk.com/club_oruzhie_rossyi

Thank you SIR!

Siempre_Leal wrote:

Dima wrote:S-400 Triumph battery acquisition radar 96L6 at RuAF Latakia air base
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=90d_1447324892#A1W5j3oigQJ3Txz9.99



original photo from Ru MoD release
http://eng.mil.ru/images/upload/2015/SAVX7322-1.jpg

Everyday life of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria
http://eng.mil.ru/en/multimedia/photo/gallery.htm?id=26078

what are you guys opinion?

Good find.

Are we certain? Anyway, why a S-400 not a S-300 of some type?

The top picture looks as if the radar antenna is on a trailer not a 6 wheeled truck. In the second the radar is tucked behind the other trucks so it is no help.

Dima wrote:S-400 Triumph battery acquisition radar 96L6 at RuAF Latakia air base
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=90d_1447324892#A1W5j3oigQJ3Txz9.99



original photo from Ru MoD release
http://eng.mil.ru/images/upload/2015/SAVX7322-1.jpg

Everyday life of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria
http://eng.mil.ru/en/multimedia/photo/gallery.htm?id=26078

what are you guys opinion?

96L6 radar does not necessary mean S-400. later models of S-300 like PMU2 also use 96L6 radar.

Why don't Russia deliver the Yak-130 and MiG-29M2 planes Syria paid for? That way the Syrian air force can replace its really old planes.

ultron wrote:Why don't Russia deliver the Yak-130 and MiG-29M2 planes Syria paid for? That way the Syrian air force can replace its really old planes.

And they'll be formed, rated and qualified when and where?