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| Israel warns Russia: We'll neutralize S-300 if sold to Iran |
| 2008-08-08 |
| If Russia goes through with the sale of its most advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, Israel will use an electronic warfare device now under development to neutralize it and as a result present Russia as vulnerable to air infiltrations, a top defense official has told The Jerusalem Post. The Russian system, called the S-300, is one of the most advanced multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world today and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time. It has a range of about 200 kilometers and can hit targets at altitudes of 27,000 meters. While Russia has denied that it sold the system to Iran, Teheran claimed last year that Moscow was preparing to equip the Islamic Republic with S-300 systems. Iran already has TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles from Russia. Mixed media reports have emerged recently regarding the possible delivery of the system to Iran. Two weeks ago Reuters quoted a senior Israeli official who said the system would be delivered to Iran by the end of the year. In response, the Pentagon released a statement rejecting the assessment and saying that the US did not believe Iran would get it in 2008. According to the Israeli defense official who spoke to the Post, "no one really knows yet if and when Iran will get the system." A top IAF officer also said this week that Israel needed to do "everything possible" to prevent the S-300 from reaching the region. "Russia will have to think real hard before delivering this system to Iran, which is possibly on the brink of conflict with either Israel or the US, since if the system is delivered, an EW [electronic warfare] system will likely be developed to neutralize it, and if that happens it would be catastrophic not only for Iran but also for Russia," the defense official said. Neutralization of one of the main components of Russian air defense would be a blow to Russian national security as well as to defense exports. "No country will want to buy the system if it is proven to be ineffective," the official said. "For these reasons, Russia may not deliver it in the end to Iran." Also on Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told an Italian paper that a nuclear Iran would be "dangerous to world order." Barak emphasized that all options for dealing with threat of a nuclear Teheran were "open and ready," and stressed the importance of "strengthening and accelerating economic sanctions against Iran." "Either way, we need to keep every option open. If they provoke us, or they attack us, our army is prepared to attack and to succeed uncompromisingly," he asserted in an interview with the daily Corriere della Sera . "It's up to us to find the best way to get the best result with minimum damage," Barak added. "Iran confirmed its message when it stood against the whole world: to deceive and to reject. Their aim is to obtain an atomic bomb," he continued. The defense minister also spoke of the results of the Second Lebanon War, telling the Italian paper, "Two years ago, we saw the price that's paid for a lack of an experienced leadership. Nevertheless, today we're equipped with a good understanding to prevent this from happening again." He added that UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that brought an end to the war was inefficient since Hizbullah, Syria and Iran were doing what they wanted in Lebanon. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #15 EMP may very well be the only real "nuclear" option left to Israel, and if it is well controlled and low yield, they may even have deniability (of using a nuke), claiming it was a special "secret" (zionist? lol) weapon. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-08 18:49 |
| #14 I'd never thought of using an EMP, it's always the bug-a-boo the bad guys are gonna use. That plan sounds very effective for Israel's problems. If a nuke is used they will face political fall-out but they'll get that no matter what they do. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-08-08 16:34 |
| #13 .5MT, I was thinking along the lines of blowing out the infrastructure of Iran with EMP. power generation and transmission, as well as pulsing the major urban areas. Its actually a humane way of collapsing the nation, as long as the people there rise up and throw off the theocracy, and then cooperate with western rebuilding of their nation in the model and image of Iraq. They can pay for the repairs with oil. Ethnic groups can be divided and reconciled to power sharing under a democratic umbrella (Arabs in the S, Pashtun in the east, Kurds in the N and persians, 50%, in the center). Iran used to be a fairly prosperous and economically advanced semi-secular country before the Ayatollahs took over. Imagine what all the Iranians could do when properly educated and motivated (like the Iraqis are starting to become), especially with a fresh example of the price of tyranny in their minds, and example of what prosperity a modern non-theocratic non-ethnic government can do right next door. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-08 13:34 |
| #12 rjschwarz - their missiles do reach that far. They made that clear to the USSR decades ago. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-08-08 12:27 |
| #11 EMP's especially small don't have to be nuclear. PS, don't forget the Egyptian SAM Belt of '73. It worked. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-08-08 12:14 |
| #10 Several airbursts of very small yeild (but high EMP) nuclear weapons over a few points would basically disable most of Iran and all electronics there, without causing any significant fallout or casualties. Telecom and Power generation system (and therefor water and sewage) would become completely useless and remain that way for some time. The Mullahs want to return to the 1100's? This would do it. It would also result in starvation, widespread disease (cholera), and the inability of the Mullahs to control the people. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-08-08 11:50 |
| #9 It's not just proven against Syria, Israel did tests against the Greeks who have Russian defences. The Russians freaked and the Greeks swore they did not use the Russian systems. Nobody believes the Greeks on that. Israel should also let it slip that they plan to target moscow should Israel be nuked, you know to further test Moscows anti-air systems. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-08-08 10:43 |
| #8 They grease the underside of their aircraft with bacon, and the Islamic missiles shun it. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-08-08 10:25 |
| #7 Israel has already proven that Russian anti-air systems can be taken down with ECM. I'm sure the US has some very nice toys that are tucked away in a AF base somewhere that can do the same thing. You sure you want to prove that your stuff is crap, Russia? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-08-08 09:41 |
| #6 Well if its like most russian arms exports it does about 1/3 of what it claims it can do. Probably a 1980's system that has been sitting in a warehouse for 25 years that they pulled out and did a software upgrade on. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-08-08 09:30 |
| #5 I wouldn't call it a cloaking device, exactly... |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Phase Inverter Division 2008-08-08 08:46 |
| #4 The Israelis have a cloaking device? :-) |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-08-08 04:51 |
| #3 Hmm...so they did use this to neutralize Syrian air defenses. Verrrry interesting, I'd always assumed that a thicket of SAM defenses could deplete most strike forces. They might get through to their objective but it would be attrition city. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-08-08 02:32 |
| #2 As areminder, IRAN > ANY ATTACK ON ITS NUCLEAR SITES WILL BE AN ACT(S) OF WAR, subject to any form of retaliation as Iran deems fit. ALso, any attack by Israel will be deemed an attack by the USA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-08-08 00:39 |
| #1 "Israel warns Russia: We'll neutralize S-300 if sold to Iran" "If you don't believe we can, ask Syria." "it would be catastrophic not only for Iran but also for Russia" What's the downside? "No country will want to buy the system if it is proven to be ineffective" - like in Syria. (Hmmmmm - I sense a theme here....) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-08-08 00:32 |