Egozi: S-300 Missiles in Syria Are a Big Headache for Israel

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

By Arie Egozi

All signs show that the Russians are about to supply their S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Syria. This is raising the level of concern in Israel. The U.S.-led missile strikes on Syrian regime chemical weapon sites seem to open the way for the supply of the advanced missile systems to Syria.

Some sources claimed that the Russians have started a massive supply of advanced weapon systems to Syria under the cover of an actual physical smokescreen that they create at the ports, among other sites, to which the systems are delivered. This is designed reinforce the Arab defense capability of Syria and Russia.

The S-300 (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) is a series of initially Soviet and later Russian long-range surface-to-air missile systems produced by NPO Almaz, based on the initial S-300P version.

The S-300 system was designed for the Soviet Air defense Forces to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles. Subsequent variations were developed in order allow the interception of ballistic missiles. The S-300 system was first deployed by the Soviet Union in 1979, designed for the air defense of large industrial and administrative facilities, military bases and control of airspace against enemy strike aircraft. The system is fully automated, though manual observation and operation are also possible.

Components may be near the central command post, or as distant as 40 km away. Each radar provides target designation for the central command post. The command post compares the data received from the targeting radars up to 80 km apart, filtering false targets, a difficult task at such great distances.

The central command post features both active and passive target detection modes.

Israeli sources say that while the Israeli Air Force can cope with the threats posed by the S-300 it is still “something that will have to be taken into account” in every future attack on targets in Syria.

The S-300 system has been equipped during the years with over 20 missile variants. Currently, the system uses the 5V55K, 5V55R, and 48N6 missiles. These missiles use high-explosive fragmentation warheads triggered by proximity and impact fuses to destroy their targets. The 5V55K and 5V55R are 7.25 m long and the 48N6 is 7.50 m long. All three missiles are 0.51 m in diameter.

While the missiles almost look the same, they differ in effective ranges and intercept speeds. The 5V55K has a maximum effective range of 47 km while the 5V55R and 48N6 have 75 km and 150 km ranges respectively. The 5V55K and 5V55R models can hit targets which are moving up to 4,300 kph. The 48N6 can hit targets moving up to 10,000 kph.

The missiles are carried on the 9P85S transporter erector launcher (TEL), a 9.4 m long, 8×8 truck that can carry up to four of the missiles.

Arie Egozi, iHLS Editor-in-Chief