Article

2013-07-14 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

SLCM from Israeli Dolphin subs take out Russian p800 ASM in Syria's Latakia port

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by OldSpook 2013-07-14 04:28|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 P-800 Oniks (SS-N-26), modern export version. Pretty much like a Harpoon missile with more range and unlike the Harpoon or Tomahawk, its supersonic (Mach2+)

Operational range: 120 to 300 km depending on altitude of flight profile
Flight altitude: 5 meters to 14000 meters
Max Speed: Mach 2.5
En-route Guidance: ГЛОНАСС (GLONASS), inertial, radar
Terminal guidance: active-passive, frequency agile, range 50 km
Terminal Altitude: 5-15m (Sea skimmer)
Payload warhead: 250kg
EW/ECM/ECCM: high immunity to countermeasures from active spoofing and dipole clouds
Launch platform: Fixed-wing aircraft, coastal installations, naval ships

What I cant figure out is the reasoning/timing for this target - these things were delivered back in December 2011. They've been sitting there over a year. Is there something going on that portends Syria or its allies (Iran?) needing increased SS-Naval missile warfare capability?

Or could this be disinformation designed to allow the Russians/Syrians a face-saving "cover" for the actual target: the destruction of the S-300 that may have been there too?

Odd. Very odd.

Posted by OldSpook 2013-07-14 05:10|| 2013-07-14 05:10|| Front Page Top

#2 Were they deployed?
Only one reason to take out coastal defense.

Posted by Skidmark 2013-07-14 10:05|| 2013-07-14 10:05|| Front Page Top

#3 So the Syrians had all their eggs in one basket, did they?

Interesting report. If they were delivered prior to the start of current festivities, Assad would want them (I think) to deter the Israeli Navy, specifically the gunboats and patrol vessels that otherwise could block his ports in any trouble. Also, they'd be useful to attack Israeli ships and oil rig installations in those natural gas fields in the eastern Med.

But storing them with/next to the S-300s? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy...

Posted by Steve White 2013-07-14 10:12|| 2013-07-14 10:12|| Front Page Top

#4 When you are always given everything why be concerned. Rust away. Collect the money. The Arab way. When can I have more please newer and ... say Chinese may be interested now. They are cozy with the Russians temporarily.

Posted by Dale 2013-07-14 10:33|| 2013-07-14 10:33|| Front Page Top

#5 Old Spook is right that the timing raises questions, but there are alternative explanations besides the S-300 guess. In December 2011, there would have been a bigger world reaction to an Israeli strike and, more importantly the risk of Russian anger. As the Syrian conflict has gone on longer and increased in intensity, Israel has much more political cover. It's not that Israel is shy in protecting its interests -- it's that the risk/reward calculus has improved, changing the decision on dealing with lower level risks. Israel could also have been signaling its displeasure over something that isn't in the news and went to their handy target list of (like to strike; not need to strike) Syrian assets. For example, it could be an additional warning of what would happen if S-300 are shipped, rather than actual S-300s that arrived.

Puzzling to me is the economics of Russian-Syrian weapons transactions. Syria's reserves are plummeting. They can't really afford to buy the sort of weapons that risk being vaporized when they could instead be using that money to buy conventional arms that Israel won't strike, not to mention all the government bread and fuel outlays to keep their public from abandoning ship. If Syria is buying on credit, then Russia is taking a large credit risk that seems unwise for such a usually hard-headed bunch.

Posted by Odysseus 2013-07-14 12:31|| 2013-07-14 12:31|| Front Page Top

#6 I was under the impression that there were reports that Israel had attacked an S-300 site.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-07-14 12:41|| 2013-07-14 12:41|| Front Page Top

#7 ZH musings

Posted by tipper 2013-07-14 15:06|| 2013-07-14 15:06|| Front Page Top

So the Syrians had all their eggs in one basket, did they?

Hard to find enough trust-worthy troops to guard and man two or more sites...

Posted by Rob Crawford 2013-07-14 15:52|| 2013-07-14 15:52|| Front Page Top

#9 Jooooos underwater launching missiles? Hello, Iran!

*seething*

Posted by Frank G 2013-07-14 16:00|| 2013-07-14 16:00|| Front Page Top

#10 Hey, anyone have a clue on what ordinance the Israelis used? was it land attack Harpoons (I don't know if the US Navy has these, but it couldn't be hard to do). Was it a sea launched Delilah or maybe a surface to surface Gabriel? It's not really important, I just want to know.

Posted by Rob06 2013-07-14 16:57|| 2013-07-14 16:57|| Front Page Top

#11 Puzzling to me is the economics of Russian-Syrian weapons transactions

It might help if one considers the profit from weapons transactions being one of influence, rather than money.

In the bad old days, the then-Soviet Russians used weaponry to gain favor of the 'customer' and as an extension of their foreign policy. The political-religion may have changed, but IMNSHO, the Russian mindset has not.

The Chinese are in the same game, only it's economic development as a foreign policy tool, rather than supplying weaponry.

Posted by Pappy 2013-07-14 17:34|| 2013-07-14 17:34|| Front Page Top

#12 The "Harpoon-ski".

IMO Israel real worry in Syria is the presence of Hezbollah, IRGC Quds Force + Foreign Militants, NOT Baby Assad - Israel will worry about Assad only iff he proves unable to get the former to leave SYria for back home.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2013-07-14 19:49|| 2013-07-14 19:49|| Front Page Top

23:50 Alaska Paul
23:01 JosephMendiola
21:55 Pappy
20:58 Barbara
20:57 Barbara
20:49 Redneck Jim
20:40 Redneck Jim
20:33 Redneck Jim
20:22 Rob Crawford
20:21 Rob Crawford
20:19 Redneck Jim
20:11 JosephMendiola
20:08 Redneck Jim
20:07 Raj
20:06 Raj
20:06 JosephMendiola
19:55 Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division
19:54 Omavimble Stalin3583
19:49 JosephMendiola
19:38 lord garth
18:49 Ulomonter Prince of the Brontosaurs2094
18:46 Glenmore
18:45 Glenmore
18:30 gorb