Aside from all sorts of political considerations, Chinese and Indian strategic planners will have to assess carefully the strict military dimension of the missile strike that the United States launched against a government-controlled airbase in Syria early on Friday.
China and India are both clients of Russia’s arms industry, and have bought a number of S-400 long-range air defense missile systems. The Kremlin is a historical ally of Damascus and deployed batteries of this advanced missile platform at the Khmeimim airbase near Latakia in western Syria after its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
On paper, the S-400 system is designed to destroy aircraft, drones, and cruise and ballistic missiles up to 400 kilometers away; it is also equipped with a radar able to detect targets at a range of 600km. Since its installation in Syrian territory, the action of Western and Turkish warplanes in support of rebel forces has been limited.
The presence of S-400 platforms in the Syrian theater possibly influenced the US strategy of attack against the Assad regime. The USS Porter and USS Ross, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, bombarded the Shayrat airbase in central Syria, which the Syrian Air Force used to launch suspected chemical attacks that left dozens of civilians dead in rebel-held Khan Shaykhun.
Though the Pentagon informed the Russian military beforehand of the impending operation, the US military command decided to attack from a safe distance. Tomahawk missiles have a range of 1,600km and their use in place of strike aircraft was probably intended to minimize potential losses caused by the very fast and precise S-400 surface-to-air missiles.
This could mean that the Pentagon acknowledges the effectiveness of the S-400 against warplanes and the electronic jamming capabilities of the US EA-18G Growler jets, which can weaken the operability of the Russian air shield in Syria but not neutralize it completely.
Thus the S-400’s deterrent function against aircraft sorties appears to be confirmed by the military option chosen by the United States to punish Assad. Chinese and Indian generals will be delighted with this outcome, which proves they have been right to bet on the S-400 system for their respective air defenses.
In particular, Delhi can reasonably be confident it will manage to undercut Beijing’s airborne capacities so as to gain aerial strategic parity in the Himalayan region, where the two countries have long-standing border disputes.
S-400’s vulnerability to swarm missile attacks
On the other hand, the barrage of Tomahawks demonstrated the Pentagon’s capacity to perforate the Russian defenses in Syria, possibly showing the vulnerability of the S-400 to low-flying missiles with small radar cross-sections.
The S-400 radar probably detected the Tomahawk swarm but the firing system apparently did not attempt to hit any missiles. It is now an open question whether Moscow’s military command in Syria deliberately opted not to engage the US missiles once informed of the imminent attack or, in contrast, was unable to react.
The Russian camp obviously leans toward the first scenario. In Moscow’s view, the interception of US Tomahawks by the S-400 system would have provoked a dangerous escalation. The fact that, after the US strike, Moscow announced its intention to strengthen the Syrian air defenses, however, is a sign that the Russian defense shield in war-torn Syria needs some improvements.
That said, all types of air defense systems, including the S-400, are still in large part untested as to whether they can resist multiple missile attacks. India and China should take that into account while focusing on the reinforcement of their own air and missile defenses. In this sense, the S-400’s mixed performance in Syria against the US Tomahawks should at least raise some doubt in Delhi and Beijing over the capabilities of this Russian arms system.
Americas are very much afraid of war, Russians can’t afford to attack you first but when you try them you will regret your life, tell your Donald trump that dealing with is not banning Muslims from entering the US
23/59 hits is bad for you?with the fact that s400 is active in the area? damn you armchair general dont know nothing
s400 has prove nothing, has shot down nothing,while the raptors did alot of things you are blindly dont want to know
the tomahawk missiles are meant to CRIPPLE syrias operation on that air base,
NOT TO DISABLE so its obiously would operate again
Truth
Great piont
How does Israel’s Iron dome and David’sling compare to S400? –
So wtf do you have
I will not insult the whole of Vietnam because of an asehole like you
Hahaha
Your concentration on very narrow technical questions is a bit disconcerting. It’s a very dangerous siituation that I wish would have never happened. It’s reckless on our part. Operationally speaking, first, why use limited S400 assets to defend Syrian MIG 23s? Second why risk the escalation. The problem however is that the Russians are probably going to rachet up the ground pressure in response. If the US uses air assets to shore up the rebel side and then Moscow engaes those air assets then we have a major big time problem. For the U.S to neutralize the entirety of the Russian anti-air in Syria would require major corrdinated action with thousands of incoming rounds. If we do that and the Russians cut loose with the batteries then it depends on what the results are. The end resuult is we destroy the batteries as the Russians are out-gunned in the area but the question is at what relative cost. If the Russian systems are effective or very effective then the U.S. would suffer a major blow. This aura of invincibility in the air that we have been aintaining for the last 30 years by only attacking defensless nations would vanish. If for example the limited battteris in Syria succeeded in destroying a wing of aircraft or more then by extension the Russians are invulnerable to American air power in Ukraine where they can field orders of magnitude more AA batteries. Our whole air-force wouldn’t be big enough to get through.
Hahahaha you mean chinese technology really has that… i doubt it… just name 1 chinese tech wether militarily or civilian thar was really invented by them… i have one… counterfieting maybe.
Wish Russia could have released a salvo of the S-400 to neutralise all the US missles so that they can be disgraced. Aggressors. Truth will always prevail. No second Libya please.
Look at here, more of them armchair general are trolling the web. Lmfao!!!
23/59 is the tomahawk score as per general staff radar reports. Not bad by the US considering that the S400’s EW were active.
Well by now we are 100% sure of the Yankis gang have already told the Russians much earlier that the fake khan Shaikhon Chem distruction .thats why they russians didnt intercept in full range ,,only few signals to divert some of the stupid TH missiles ,,,my guess were the Russians want to send a messege as well even we allow you to pass but will be under our commands ,,out of 59 only 23 reach ,where the 36 Emanuale ?
It is not responsibility of Russia alone to secure world peace from american/british imperialism it is duty of other nations also to chip in & contribute with co-ordinated effort to prevent recolonization effort of americans/british of the world.
Besides Russia other Nations may also be developing technologies like Japan,South Korea,Indonesia,Arabs,Israel so the technology may infact become available when US decides to strike Delhi/Beijing.If every nation thinks their existential threat comes from US/UK the advances in science & technology will be rapid & fast.
It is no surprise the Russians are looking to beef up the Systems protecting Syria. It was intended as a deterant. It has served its purpose in part deterring the US from engaging in Syria. Now the US has engaged the possibility of a real conflict looms. The level of defense to hold back a massive American attack would need to be Eye watering. Any missile making it through would bit by bit degrade the ability of the defenders to resist further attacks. Any exchange between US forces and Russian forces would initially be a missile attack v defense. The danger would be if the defenders felt the need to degrade US attack ability to hold out. That would lead to a very serious escalation.
The F-35s (A, B, C) are a complete joke – a scam really, to cheat the helpless American tax payers.
The F-22 is also ridden with problems – it had not actually gone through all the original test suites before serial production. Its maintence requirement and costs are a nightmare. Worst, its so-called stealth doesn’t work if the enemy has the right type radars. Pile on the software glitches, hardware vulnerabilities, frequently occurring technical problems, the F-22 has the qualities of an impostor, notwithstanding its powerful engine.
Mr Emanuele Scimia doesn’t really know what he is writing about. The S-400 is a pretty expensive system designed to primarily counter high speed, high altitude, high value targets with high threat levels, NOT low speed, low altitude, low value targets with low threat levels.
For a small, economically weak state like Syria, it makes no economic sense to use the S-400 on the Tomahawks aimed at low value targets.
US was afraid of using Stealth bombers.F-22 and F-35 raptures because S-400 could have easily shot the US stealth aircraft.The author is biased and is trying to promote US arms industries instead of russia to both India and China