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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Russia's arms pact with Iran: Moscow pledges fighter jets and air defenses to Tehran including advanced missiles capable of shooting down US and Israeli stealth planes | |
| 2024-04-16 | |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Russian military officials have quietly been supporting Iran with weapons and information as the crisis in the Middle East escalates, it has emerged. A strategic alliance between the two hostile nations, reports the Washington Post, has seen Russia supply an array of artillery to Iran, including prized anti-aircraft launchers and drones. The reported deals are evidence of a concerning dynamic between the two nations, which experts warn show Iran is growing in strength and negotiating power as it barrels towards war. 'It’s no longer the patron-client dynamic, where Russia holds all the leverage,' said Hanna Notte, director of the Eurasia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. 'The Iranians are accruing benefits from this change. The nature of their relationship has gone beyond just getting things. There’s knowledge transfer, there’s intangible gains.' Experts warned that the growing relationship between Russia and Iran took a large step forward in 2022, when Iran agreed to help bolster the invasion of Ukraine. This agreement saw Iran supply thousands of battlefield drones and missiles, a move that the Kremlin has reportedly been interested in reciprocating. Russia has vowed to support Iran with air defense technology and advanced fighter jets, particularly as it is facing the possibility of counter strikes from Israel in the wake of its halted attack on Tel-Aviv last week. Intelligence officials and weapons experts told the Washington Post that the supply of weapons to Iran make it a far more formidable military in modern warfare if it has an enhanced ability to shoot down planes and missiles. Such a capability was shown in full force following Iran's strikes on Israel, as international allies helped shoot down almost all drones heading to the nation. In particular, Iran is said to covet Russia's S-400 anti-aircraft launchers, which military analysts say are able to detect and destroy stealth fighter jets operated by Israel and the United States.
The factory was under US sanctions for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and its hosting of the Iranian delegation was not known until February. That month, a hacker group shared stolen Iranian emails that saw Russians describe the meeting as an exhibition for 'scientific and technical potential and production capabilities.' While it is not clear whether any weapons were bought in that trip, analysts have seen it as a clear intention that the relationship between the two nations is already forged as they head deeper into conflict. According to the cited anonymous experts, this collaboration will extend beyond anti-aircraft launchers, and may also include the co-production of military drones inside Russia. It may also include the sharing of anti-jamming technology, and information sharing over weapons deployment against forces in Ukraine. The emerging dynamic between Russia and Iran may also be enhancing Iran's air force, which had been seen as falling behind other world militaries. The Iranian air force is primarily made up of rebuilt US and Soviet jets from before 1979, however intelligence officials warned that Russia has been 'advancing' a deal to supply Su-35 fighter jets. The fighter jets would be a significant upgrade on Iran's fleet, however the officials reportedly said there is no evidence they have received them yet, which may be due to a delay in payment. Russia may also be looking to support Iranian efforts to increase its supply of spy satellites, and help build rockets to send more into space, the intelligence officials reportedly said. The potential step up in Iranian military might comes as the nation continues to barrel towards war with Israel, including sending hundreds of drones and missiles in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus on April 1. The strike in Damascus killed two Iranian generals, leading Iran to send its counterstrike directly from its homeland instead of via proxies in a dramatic escalation. US officials have reportedly stressed the need for restraint from Israel in response, however IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warned Monday that Iran 'will be met with a response.' | |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #11 Another Old Crow! |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-04-16 19:58 |
| #10 HIMARS, pretty much, ain't done jack egesta in UKR. |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2024-04-16 18:34 |
| #9 Appears the schedule has....just been moved up a notch or two. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2024-04-16 18:09 |
| #8 The same S-400s that can’t catch IAF bombers over Syria... [begin Pedantic Nerd Mode] Radar works by an emitter sending out radio pulses that bounces off the target and a receiver that detects the fainter returning pulses. From the timing and frequency of the returning pulse, the radar can calculate location and speed of the target. An attacker can defeat the radar by sending a signal stronger than the returning pulse to blind the receiver, rather like shouting over someone trying to talk. This makes a bright fuzzy blob on the radar screen that hides the attack. A clever attacker with some inside knowledge of how a particular radar works can send pulses with the correct timing and frequencies to make the radar think it is receiving signals from multiple inbound targets, none of which are real. [End Pedantic Nerd Mode] At the time of the festivities in question, there was some open source speculation that the Russians had given the Israelis a peak at the documentation for the Soviet-era air defense systems the Syrians were using. I have no way of knowing if this was true. Another possibility was that the Juice, being tricksy as hobbits, figured this out on their own. Whatever the real story, the Syrian air defenses were rendered ineffective. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2024-04-16 17:22 |
| #7 "Weapons to Iran make it a far more formidable military in modern warfare." |
| Posted by: mossomo 2024-04-16 13:00 |
| #6 Looks like 8 x S300 batteries and 12 Bavar 373 batteries currently (figure 15 operational with 25% down for mx). That's supplemented by "many" Sayyad indigenously produced units. Russians keeping the 400 and 500 systems for themselves presumably. |
| Posted by: Clem+Elmish4239 2024-04-16 11:30 |
| #5 #3 Can't even shoot down deprecated systems like Storm Shadow or HIMARS. Russian AD has been routinely shooting down HIMAR rockets since May, 2022. |
| Posted by: badanov 2024-04-16 11:22 |
| #4 ^ You are going to trigger Dale's migraine... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2024-04-16 10:35 |
| #3 Can't even shoot down deprecated systems like Storm Shadow or HIMARS. |
| Posted by: Angstrom 2024-04-16 10:32 |
| #2 "Advanced". Sure.... |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2024-04-16 10:10 |
| #1 Yeah Yuri, but can you have it here by Thursday? |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2024-04-16 09:43 |