Israel attempts to stop S-300 air defense supplies to Iran

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Israel attempts to stop S-300 air defense supplies to Iran





MOSCOW: Israel has intensified its efforts to prevent deliveries of Russian S-300 air defense systems to Iran under a 2007 contract, an Israeli newspaper said on Monday.

According to the Haaretz daily, "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and asked him to prevent the arms deal from going through."

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met a week ago at the Paris Airshow with Gen. Nikolai Makarov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and reportedly "asked that he also intervene to prevent the arms sale."

Israel and the U.S. insist that the delivery of advanced air defense systems to Iran would undermine the military balance in the region, and Russia has until recently delayed the implementation of the deal.

Although Russian sources said in March that Iran had not yet received any S-300 air defense systems and the deal relied on the leadership in Moscow, Russia had reiterated its commitment to fulfill the contract, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Haaretz said that during the visit of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to Moscow several weeks ago, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the Israeli official that some payments under the contract had already been made.

Arms deliveries to Iran are also important to Russia because Moscow is quickly losing its positions on key Asian arms markets in China and India.

In light of the recent developments and ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama with his Russian counterpart next week, Israel has launched "intensive diplomatic efforts...in order to restore the earlier Russian commitment not to complete the deal," the newspaper said.

The latest version of the S-300 family is the S-300PMU2 Favorit, which has a range of up to 195 kilometers (about 120 miles) and can intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 10 meters to 27 kilometers.

It is considered one of the world's most effective all-altitude regional air defense systems, comparable in performance to the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot system.

 

[Renegade]

The S-300 must be one heck of a system for the Israeli's to go through all that trouble of lobbying with Moscow.

 

[Renegade]

Israel's Red Line: The S-300 Missile System


Four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) F-15I Ra’am warplanes skim along just 100 feet above the arid desert landscape, flying at just below the speed of sound. The four jets form just one of many Israeli strike packages on their way to strike Iranian nuclear facilities hidden deep underground all over that country.

But, as the strike fighters streak towards their targets, almost without warning the lead F-15I explodes as it is hit by a surface-to-air missile. As the rest of the flight desperately begins evasive manoeuvres, a second F-15 is obliterated before the pilots can bail out, and more of the deadly missiles are on their way towards the remaining Israeli jets.

This is the nightmare scenario facing Israeli military planners when Iran acquires the Russian surface-to-air missile system known in the West as the SA-20 Gargoyle. This deadly missile could be delivered to Iran as soon as September, according to Israeli news reports, potentially shutting the door on any Israeli air strike.


A nearly insurmountable obstacle

Although on July 9 U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates denied the possibility of Iran acquiring the missile — known as the S-300PMU-1 by its Russian designers — “anytime soon,” defense reporters have speculated widely that the operational deployment of the S-300 air-defense system would represent a “red line” for an Israeli air strike on Iran. This is because the SA-20/S-300 represents a nearly insurmountable obstacle for conventional aircraft, according to air power experts.

“For non-stealth aircraft, the SA-20 represents a virtual no-fly zone,” said retired United States Air Force General Richard E. Hawley.

Hawley, who served as the commander of U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command from 1996 to 1999, said the SA-20 possesses far better radar, much greater range, is far better integrated into the networked air defense system, and is generally much more lethal than previous generations of surface-to-air missiles.

Additionally, the SA-20 is much more resistant to electronic countermeasures that are typically used by strike aircraft to defeat such weapons and is capable of engaging targets with far smaller radar cross-sections.


The SA-20/S-300's capabilities

The S-300PMU-1 system is capable of engaging targets from altitudes as low as 30 feet to as high as 90,000 feet, against incoming targets travelling at a velocity of 9,000 feet per second, according to the Web site of the Almaz Scientific Industrial Corporation, the Russian company that builds the weapon.

Its horizontal range allows the S-300PMU-1 to attack targets as close in as 3 miles to as far out as 95 miles. In addition, the missile system is capable of destroying incoming intermediate-range ballistic missiles up to 25 miles out.

The SA-20/S-300 does all this while attacking six targets simultaneously, with two missile launchers each firing at a rate of one missile every 3 to 5 seconds. The system is totally mobile and can be networked into an air battle management system to provide even more lethal coverage and to ensure that the weapon is much more protected.

Hawley, a former fighter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours and 438 combat missions flown over Vietnam, said the prospects for conventional strike aircraft would be grim when faced with the SA-20.

According to Hawley, the only ways to engage the SA-20 with conventional non-stealth aircraft would be to use stealthy cruise missiles such as the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), fired from outside the range of the air defense missiles; or to resort to Vietnam-era low-level tactics.

The problem for Israel is that it does not have the JASSM missile — production of the weapon has only recently restarted for the U.S. Air Force after a lengthy delay due to technical faults — and so its aircraft would have to use the low-altitude approach against the SA-20.

Low-altitude tactics — where jets skim the earth at treetop levels — are extremely hazardous and are of limited effectiveness, and an attacking force would likely face “very significant losses,” said Hawley.


Israel's Red Line: The S-300 Missile System | Aviation

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

This air defence system would give Iran advantage over any Israeli aggresion .Thus making Israeli options limited.

 

[TOPGUN]

Yea it will affect a big balance right haha more like no missle sys more easier the bombs to drop on Iran big daddy and the stupid baby are always up to no damn good GOD help us all!

 

[Cheetah786]

Arms deliveries to Iran are also important to Russia because Moscow is quickly losing its positions on key Asian arms markets in China and India.

Well if Moscow has received payments and isnt delivering product they will lose out on all sales regardless how good the product is.

 

[jalip]

I thought they were buying form Belarus

 

[Renegade]

Well if Moscow has received payments and isnt delivering product they will lose out on all sales regardless how good the product is.

It dose not work like that. In the early 90's the US blocked the delivery of F-16's to Pakistan, in spite of Pakistan having paid the entire amount for the purchase. It didn't really effect the sale of further F-16's to other countries. The quality of the product is always a pull even if it is very hard to obtain and the quality of the S-300 system is beyond doubt. The Israelis have themselves vouched for its lethality by trying to block its sale to Iran.

 

[Mig-29]

Why the iranians are not going for the S-400 missile defence system which is an improvement over S-300.

SA-21 Growler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

while looking at the wiki it says that india did purchase S-300 ABM in 1995 for $1 billion it was news to me is it true?

 

[Renegade]

Why the iranians are not going for the S-400 missile defence system which is an improvement over S-300.

SA-21 Growler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For two reasons:
1. S-400 is an expensive system (Iran has limited money) and the Russians are still inducting the system and are not likely to give priority to export before satisfying their own requirement (Iran needs the system urgently to counter any Israeli threat at the earliest).
2. The S-300 is a very good system, its available now, comparatively cheaper and good enough to deter the Israelis.

while looking at the wiki it says that india did purchase S-300 ABM in 1995 for $1 billion it was news to me is it true?

Yep India had purchased a number of S-300 batteries from Moscow in 1995, the exact number is not known but given the huge value of the order ($ 1 Billion) a considerable number of systems must have been purchased.

 

[leonblack08]

If Iran gets,S-300 air defence system,there will be a balance in the region.At last Israel will find some worthy adversary,till now they were scoring goals without any opponent.I hope they fail miserably in their attempt to stop Iran from getting those.
S-300 can certainly be termed as "offensive" defence system.

 

[gambit]

If Iran gets,S-300 air defence system,there will be a balance in the region.At last Israel will find some worthy adversary,till now they were scoring goals without any opponent.I hope they fail miserably in their attempt to stop Iran from getting those.
S-300 can certainly be termed as "offensive" defence system.

Even though the S-300 does create a defensive speed bump for the Israelis, their arguments to the Russians will be something like: 'If you sell this to Iran, we will create an electronic countermeasure for it. Then after we make a successful strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, even though we may take some losses, we will broadcast our countermeasures to the world.'

Russia cannot afford to gamble on the chance that Israel will not strike Iran. The Russians knows they are dealing with a power that is at least on a technological par with, if not even superior than themselves. Any exposure of the S-300's weakness will kill foreign sales, other than the very gullible and desperate customers and Russia needs as many of these gullibles as possible. So if Israel is successful in this diplomatic effort, two birds killed with one stone -- That Iran remain vulnerable, and Russia will continue to peddle older junks to the region.

 

[Machoman]

I think every country should have capability to defend them selves. If Israel have that much power then Iran should get those missile not for attacking but to defend themselves from any enemy. I think Pakistan should get the same missile from Russia too. It’s nice to have these babies.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Even though the S-300 does create a defensive speed bump for the Israelis, their arguments to the Russians will be something like: 'If you sell this to Iran, we will create an electronic countermeasure for it. Then after we make a successful strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, even though we may take some losses, we will broadcast our countermeasures to the world.'

Russia cannot afford to gamble on the chance that Israel will not strike Iran. The Russians knows they are dealing with a power that is at least on a technological par with, if not even superior than themselves. Any exposure of the S-300's weakness will kill foreign sales, other than the very gullible and desperate customers and Russia needs as many of these gullibles as possible. So if Israel is successful in this diplomatic effort, two birds killed with one stone -- That Iran remain vulnerable, and Russia will continue to peddle older junks to the region.

If thats the case then why Russia isnt backing out from the Deal . I think it will take some time for the Israelis to findout the loopholes in S-300 defence system .
The fact is Isreali Jets dont have any other thing in responce to S-300 missiles that is why they are worried. This could neutralize almost any IAF infiltration.

 

[Renegade]

If thats the case then why Russia isnt backing out from the Deal .

Russia doesn't seem to sticking for the deal either. It has been a while since Iran signed the deal and made the payment but the S-300 system still hasn't arrived. Clear proof that Israeli tactics seem to be working.

I think it will take some time for the Israelis to findout the loopholes in S-300 defence system .
The fact is Isreali Jets dont have any other thing in responce to S-300 missiles that is why they are worried. This could neutralize almost any IAF infiltration.

The Israelis are already working hard at it, there have been reports of their cooperation with Greece which operates the S-300 system. It is just not Israel that is working to find ways to neutralize the S-300 system nearly the whole western world (especially NATO) is at it, for various reasons though.