The Syrian President's visit to Moscow is used within the framework of the disinformation systems, which characterize relations between blocs and regions
By: Yoram Hamizrachi
The Syrian president's visit to Moscow is used within the framework of the disinformation systems, which characterize relations between blocs and regions. The previous visit "Communication Stories Journey" was partly realistic and the rest was imagination, the main part of which revolved around the axis of a Russian weapon system that at the time received the code name "ISKANDER" ISKANDER-SS-26
It is a surface-to-surface missile (SSM) launched from a mobile system, which includes a number of vehicles with high cross-country ability. Non-Russian sources stated that the missile is "capable of hitting the head of a pin" and thus opened a sandbox, which included stories about "a frost in Russia's relations- Israel" American concern about the escalation of the regional arms race and the possibility of Israeli pre-emptive strikes against Syria or Iran or even both.
"Understanders and half-understanders" in the political/military system and outside, who expressed themselves in Israel and in the West, hastened to draw "Range of Range" maps and locate a Syrian point, as far south as possible, in order to reach the conclusion "that Iskander threatens the Israeli nuclear arsenal, near Dimona".
The pessimistic assessments were accompanied by "analyses" on the triangle of murky relations Israel-Syria-Iran, the quadrilateral of relations Israel-Syria-Iran-Lebanon, and much more as the disinformation charts.
The snowball named "Iskander" (and to a lesser extent N.M. Igla shoulder-fired missiles) therefore began to deteriorate and soon became a drift that should be analyzed in order to put facts on a portrait and perhaps also to calm spirits....
The Syrian surface-to-surface missile array is the largest of its kind in the Arab world
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The Syrian army has three TKK brigades, armed with missiles that belong to the tactical-artillery type and not the ballistic-strategic type (although in Middle Eastern theory, with relatively short ranges, it is possible to convert any artillery weapon system into a strategy slot) and their number is higher than in any other Arab country. k are required according to Syrian/Russian doctrine in which the ground forces rely on the artillery as a central weapon system, no less than the armor, related to defeat or deterrence. The Syrian Artillery Corps is an "Eichhoti Corps" and over the years its commanders have pressed to equip themselves with different types of cannons, mobile or towed, and at the same time also TK.
A review of various sources, most of them open-professional, makes it possible to estimate that the total number of anti-aircraft missiles in the Syrian stockpile is between 800 and 850 units, with up to 60 launchers of all types. The level of operational competence of the missiles is unknown and is open to estimates only. A significant part of the missiles is outdated and originates from Syrian-Soviet arms deals from the 60s/70s and North Korean deals from the 90s. The last missiles that arrived in Syria were purchased from the "remnants of the Red Army in Belarus". Some sources also claim that over the years , the Syrians purchased a number of individual missiles that ended up on the black market in "almost scrap" condition. These are mainly "second-hand Russian missiles" intended for cannibalization (spare parts and solid rocket fuel). arrived in Syria, while another source claims that Yemen, for example, which purchases "second-hand missiles" mainly from North Korea, China and Vietnam, sold the Syrians some "reality" as we have seen. According to both Russian and Western sources, who follow what is happening in Syria, The Syrian missile brigades have the following models.
LUNA-M tactical artillery missile, with a range of up to 70 km and a launch radius/ accuracy pre
in the area of 700 meters. Luna-4 missiles (identified in the West as "Prog" missiles (RAt from English: independent rocket above the ground) "which were used in the YOC war, hit, among other things, the H.A. Ramat-David base. In total, they are in the service of Syrian operations
About 200 missiles of this model, with an unknown number of functioning launchers. (According to Russian sources up to 18 launchers, Israeli sources at least 36 launchers and a NATO source 20 units)
TOCHKA tactical artillery missile "next generation" of the Luna. With a range of up to 70 km and a launch radius/accuracy PRA between 200-250 meters. About 200 missiles of this model are in operational service, with the same number of launchers as the Luna-4 launchers
P-300 heavy tactical artillery missile, from the "Scud" family, which is an old, but reliable weapon system that has been in service with several Arab armies since the 60s. The weapon system, which has an effective range of up to 300 km, with a strike radius/PRA accuracy of up to 900 meters There are improved sub-series, for example: model C (C) with a total of 120 missiles and model D (D) that came with the procurement of the 90s and North Korean deals. The Syrians have between 50 and 70 missiles of this model with 40 launchers, only some of which are usable (the gap in the assessment between Israel and NATO in terms of launchers 18-40 and the number of usable missiles 10-15) The missiles are based on extended-range models. Some of their data is questionable "and suspected" as disinformation Model C has a range of up to 550 km and model D has a theoretical range of up to 1000 km.
Syria has tried, without considerable success, to improve all the models it has, especially in the area of guidance and increasing range, even by giving up the weight of the warhead. All models can "deliver" explosives, cluster bombs, mines and anti-aircraft missiles to the target. Their effectiveness The operational purpose of the above-mentioned basic missiles is mainly to target field targets, such as population centers, assessment areas - bridgeheads and essential facilities, just as they were used by the Iraqis ("in the first Gulf War") despite the fact that these are mobile systems, which apparently can be deployed quickly, difficult To assume that Syria will advance such missiles near the border in the Golan, unless it decides and succeeds in carrying out a "Pearl Harbor/Pearl Harbor surprise" because the missiles are kept deep in the country and in the eastern desert, where firing tests combined with exercises are conducted every few years. According to NATO sources, stored Dozens of missiles in tunnels, some of which were cut in the eastern slope of the Mol-Lebanon mountains and the slopes of the eastern Leja.
The new actor - Iskander E
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The missile, whose official designation is SS-26 and the popular name ISKANDER from the design of the important Missile Ministry KBM, belongs to the family of tactical artillery missiles, similar in their operational purpose to the previous generation such as the Scud, etc., but with values that bring them closer to "strategic status" and these are the main features of the Iskander:
Beginning of operational service (Russia) since 1999
Effective range: 300 km
Rashq: 480 kg of explosives, or secondary charges, for example ten cases of cluster bombs, cases of mines or A.B.K. weapons
Mobile launcher: bike trucks
Weight: 3800 kg ready for launch
Fuel: solid
Guidance system: GPS integration with radio guidance as well as several models with infrared thermal-optical guidance
This is apparently a satellite navigation system, based on three GPS-GLONASS satellites that also serve India.
As is well known, the Ministry of Planning continues to develop guidance systems, and therefore some treat the present as only temporary)
This is the history of the "missile capable of hitting the head of a pin"
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The Iskander was designed as an experimental SS-X-26 missile that came to replace the aging Scud series and to replace the SS-23 missile that was taken out of operational service with the signing of nuclear disarmament agreements and mandatory range limitations. The Iskander was designed from the beginning to be transported and launched from an independent-bicycle system BAZ-6909 which is a series of truck models, which were presented for the first time At one of the industrial fairs of the mid-90s. These trucks have additional purposes, besides carrying and launching missiles. In the case of the Iskander, they carry a full command and control system as well as reserve missiles and required logistics.
In the early 90s it was found out that the Russians were developing three Iskander models, one for the Red Army, the second for export and the third a joint venture with India, which according to some "in the know" probably includes some "Israeli ideas and knowledge" which according to experts in the United States "jumped" the government Israel from its place (a Russian commitment that Israeli knowledge will not reach enemy countries)... the various export models of the Iskander "suffer" from a lack of advanced guidance systems, they have a relatively short range compared to the main model and are armed with conventional weapons. A crucial part of the development of the Iskander for the needs of the Russian and Indian armies is related to materials Explosives that were specially developed in order to increase efficiency due to the weight of the rocket.
In the Russian formation there are several new Iskander units, which were established in 2000 after the "run-in period" and which also include missiles with a rocket designed for deep underground penetration, known as a "bunker breaker". Attempts are still being made to arm the missile with an advanced rocket using the fuel-air explosion method.
In addition to various guidance systems, some of which are not intended for export. A system with satellite support and guidance based on computer software is in advanced development, containing target photographs. These are entered before firing, including the possibility of a minimal target change, or mission cancellation. Western missile experts, according to the best of their analyses, are not absolute guidance systems, which cannot be diverted or disrupted, erasing a radar signature, etc. It also appears that up until about five years ago, the US considered developing a "competing" missile, but canceled the idea, partly because of the risks of exposing sensitive technology, if and when the system would be marketed to so-called "allied" countries, as well as costs. The American choice was therefore to develop air-to-ground missile systems cruise missiles and smart bombs, which are mainly aerial or naval anti-missile weapons launched from aircraft, submarines and missile destroyers. Wings of a plane was influenced by Israeli doctrine and consideration of feasibility, which is expressed in the development of Israeli rocket armament which is one of the most advanced in the world.
A Russian source, who was quoted at a professional conference held in Asia, claimed at the end of 2004 that optical guidance systems, which operate on the basis of computer image input and allow the missile to identify a target in daylight, or with the aid of night vision devices - were also successfully developed in Israel and India "with silent Russian cooperation" and in his estimation there is "in the world The military technology and advanced electronics" is solid enough knowledge to develop anti-guided systems for the Iskander, despite noisy headlines as if it is a "stubborn missile that cannot be mistaken". eight over any parallel western system"
All this while... it is difficult to point to a similar Western system that was put into service in the same yearbook... Chinese weapon systems, for example the DF-15 TKK, are somewhat similar to the Russian systems. A range of 15 km and a quality of accuracy/missing PRE of between 600/200 meters. In the area of bragging, or disinformation, it is possible to include a relatively recent Russian news, which was accompanied by the preparations for Assad's visit to Moscow, according to which "the Iskander is capable of breaking through the Patriot Wall" immediately afterwards "sources announced "Technical" are different in China and North Korea "Even our missiles are superior to the Patriot"
technological level
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Some of the quality factors of the Iskander, in particular in the field of precision and satellite support, cannot be exported to countries where, at the moment, there is no satisfactory IT capability, or military satellites, which are a necessity for the effective operation of the Iskander, beyond its use as an advanced artillery missile. Theoretically , Gavoy-Lavin can be included as a purchase in a "package deal" except that then the Russians may be exposed to involvement in a war action that the purchaser will carry out with all the implications of that.
The guidance properties of the Iskander are suitable, according to sources in Russia and NATO, also for "disabling enemy radars" when even in this channel of possibilities there is a direct connection between the Iskander and satellite capability. The Iskander currently has no "receipts" except for a few "live fire" experiments conducted in the Russian Far East, and in Central Asia as part of the war against the Mujahideen. A Georgian source says that about two years ago, the Iskander fleet was advanced to the Pankisi Gorge, a problematic assessment area for the Mujahideen, outside the borders of Chechnya. The army and the air force simultaneously tried to hit the Mujahideen with smart bombs dropped from planes attack and Iskander missiles designed to deal with "point targets" such as bunkers. The result was "in favor" of the planes and the smart bombs, while the "missile capable of hitting the head of a pin" missed at least twice, with a deviation of between tens and hundreds of meters.
Iskander's tricks, Hezbollah and Syria's needs
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As part of the Israeli-Russian debate, which accompanies the visit of the President of Syria to Moscow, Iskander was inflated to "larger than life" dimensions, especially when speakers and lobbyists in Israel and Washington felt like prophesying blackness, for example "Iskander in the hands of Hezbollah." Such prophecies are useful for writing headlines worthy of inclusion in Baron Munchausen's famous artillery More. The Iskander is not a light missile from the Katyusha family, a system that can be shaken and launched from a truck box or a platform and the like. Hezbollah does not have the technical ability to maintain the Iskander, or appropriate scientific technical support at all. A step up, in terms of equipping Hezbollah with missiles, may come, if at all, when someone decides To hunt and train Hezbollah with a number of artillery missiles from the "Halona" family and similar or Iranian imitation models. It seems that even if the Syrians obtain Iskander of the less smart model, they will still need modern anti-aircraft systems, an urgent matter, which stands out against the background of the Israeli Air Force's sorties in the skies of Syria and failure Damascus' defensive interception systems. An interesting angle to the media frenzy surrounding Iskander is the "assessment" of a strategic expert, connected to the Al-Jazeera network, who defined Iskander, who weighs close to four tons, "as a revolutionary shoulder missile..."
Mukadam (Lt.Col.) Khader, a Syrian Kite helicopter pilot, a national hero who was wounded in the Yok War when he led a commando battalion, said thirty-two years ago, when he was hospitalized in Beer Ya'akov, that there was a medical facility for captured enemy pilots, "The horse chases away flies with its tail and the donkey kicks the air Khader was referring to what he defined as "Syrian successful use of airborne commandos instead of frontal infantry attacks" but these days the parable also applies to Iskander's plots in Damascus, or as the Lebanese are wont to say... "There is no duty on words".
The article is simultaneously published on the website Colmusant
