Russian S-300 Missile - An S-300 anti-aircraft missile system fires a missile during the Keys to the Sky competition at the 2017 International Army Games at the Ashuluk firing range outside Astrakhan, Russia on August 5, 2017. /Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
Aug 29 () - Russia has sent a battery of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from Syria to a Russian port near Crimea, according to an Israeli satellite imagery company, in an apparent bid to bolster its air defenses in its war with Ukraine.
Russian S-300 Missile
ImageSat International (ISI) captured images showing the presence of the S-300 anti-aircraft battery in Masyaf, Syria in April and the empty space left on August 25 after the hardware was shipped to the port of Tartus.
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Separate images showed the battery components on a dock at Tartus between 12 and 17 August. By 20 August they had departed and the ISI concluded that they had been transferred to a Russian vessel, the Sparta II, which left Tartus for the Russian port of Novorossiysk.
Refinitiv Eikon data shows that Sparta II is currently in Novorossiysk after arriving via Turkey's Dardanelles Strait.
Russia has maintained a military presence in Syria since 2015, when it intervened in the civil war there on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
If confirmed, the transfer would signal a significant Russian move to bolster air defenses near the Ukraine theater of war, where forces have come under devastating attack in recent weeks.
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In one such incident, eight Russian fighter jets were destroyed this month in a series of explosions at an airbase in Crimea. Ukraine has declined to say whether and how they carried out the attacks.
ISI images showed that the radar component of the S-300 battery had been moved separately from the same Masyaf base to the Khmeimim air base on the Syrian coast north of Tartus.
The company's analysts said they assessed that the size and weight of the radar made it unsuitable for shipping by sea and may require an airlift by an Ilyushin-76 aircraft from Khmeimim back to Russia. Moscow and Iran will continue with the deal to supply the missiles, the head of a Russian state-controlled arms maker Sergei Chemezov said at the Dubai Airshow on Monday, adding that the contract "has already been signed".
Moscow's long-running plans to supply Iran with surface-to-air missiles have drawn strong condemnation from the United States and its allies in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Israel are particularly opposed to the sale, claiming it could destabilize the region.
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"This is defense equipment. And we are ready to offer this defense equipment to any country," Chemezov told the Reuters news agency.
The traditional S-300 systems have a maximum range of 150 kilometers (93 miles), and can engage targets at an altitude of over 27 kilometers.
"So if the Gulf countries don't want to attack Iran ... why should they be threatened?" Chemezov said.
According to Chemezov, representatives of Saudi Arabia have approached his company "several times" and urged them not to deliver the missile systems.
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Tehran and Moscow first agreed to buy the S-300 in 2007, but the Kremlin froze the $800 million (€745 million) contract in 2010 due to UN sanctions against Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the suspension in April ahead of the historic nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
Military industry representative Chemezov did not provide details on the exact type of weapons, number or delivery schedule on Monday.
In February, the state-controlled arms maker said Moscow offered Iran Antey 2500 systems, an updated version of the S-300 with a claimed range of 400 kilometers.
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While there are several versions of the systems in use, the models Tehran ordered in 2007 are no longer in production.
The Kremlin also considered offering the Antey-2500 to Egypt and talked to Saudi Arabia about possibly supplying them with even more advanced S-400 systems.
- There is a renaissance in our relationship with the country, Chemezov said on Monday. "I hope that these negotiations will lead to the signing of contracts." Russia is upgrading its long-neglected air base near Tiksi in Yakutia and activating its latest Arctic air defense system. A unit of S-300 surface-to-air missiles is now combat-ready, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Over the past decade, Russia has been engaged in modernizing and upgrading existing Arctic bases and building new ones. It now maintains a network of more than a dozen bases from the Kola Peninsula in the west to the Bering Strait in the east.
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The airbase near the city of Tiksi is the latest base to receive modern military hardware, further expanding a protective shield of anti-aircraft weapons along Russia's northern sea route.
The base received a shipment of S-300 missiles and support hardware in August 2019 when two vessels, Sevmorput and Valery Vasilyev, arrived from Arkhangelsk. The unit was first activated for training purposes in December 2019, and a collection of eleven military buildings, including dormitories, administrative buildings, power plants, fuel storage and missile control rooms, was completed in February.
Originally, Tiksi was supposed to receive the more modern S-400 system as early as 2015, but according to a recent report by CSIS, a think tank in Washington DC, these announcements were exaggerated.
"Despite the many announcements, these military systems do not appear on the analyzed satellite images. Although this does not exclude the possibility that they will be deployed on Tiksi in the future, it is important to note that Russian statements about Tiksi may be exaggerated. In fact, satellite images acquired between 2013 and 2019 show very little construction, experts at the think tank explain.
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While other bases such as Nagurskoye Air Base on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago and Temp Air Base on Kotelny Island received major expansions, including the so-called "Arctic Trefoil" buildings, Tiksi appeared to be a lower priority.
Select military bases with anti-aircraft missile systems and radar installations across the Russian Arctic. (Source: Author's own work)
"The limited development and minimal military equipment at Tiksi suggests that it may not be a key post for Russia's increased presence, and instead merely an aspirational project," CSIS concluded last month.
This now appears to be beginning to change, as the Russian Ministry of Defense released a set of images of S-300 launchers and control buildings during the opening ceremony, which was attended by the commander of the Army Air Force and Air Defense Forces of the Army Air Force. Northern Fleet, Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko.
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Elsewhere in the Arctic, Russia has already moved to replace the older S-300 system with what experts call the world's most capable air defense system, the S-400. Rogachevo Air Base on Novaya Zemlya received its regimental-sized S-300 unit between 2014–2015, with further upgrades to radar systems and associated equipment in subsequent years.
Last summer, the base's missiles were replaced with the S-400, and the unit became combat-ready last September. Last month, Russia's air defense forces took part in a full-scale test of the new system, which has an effective range of 380-40 kilometers, according to Russian authorities.
"The S-400s provide more advanced radar and electronic warfare systems, which extend the range of Novaya Zemlya's air defenses. The airspace monitored and controlled from the Rogachevo air base is now increased to 600 kilometers for detection and 400 kilometers for engagement," CSIS experts conclude in an assessment of Russia's Arctic capabilities.
According to Vice Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, commander of the Northern Fleet, additional S-300 and S-400 systems will be deployed over the Russian Arctic to create a complete air defense dome over the region. "As a result of this, the Arctic will be covered by any air attack by the enemy, including aviation, cruise or ballistic missiles," Moiseyev explained in a recent interview.
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Russia has also been engaged in rapidly expanding its long-range detection capabilities by initiating radar installations across the Arctic. The so-called Resonance-N radar has been deployed near the Rogachevo base and in the Zapolyarny district further west. The system is part of a new generation of over-the-horizon radars capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic targets at a distance of more than a thousand kilometers. The new radar installations work together with the S-400. A Russian surface-to-air S-300 missile system is displayed during a military exercise by Russian air force and air defense units at the Telemba firing range in July 2015.
Iran has displayed parts of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems ordered from Russia during its annual National Army Day parade in Tehran.
S-300 missile tubes and radar equipment were displayed during the military parade on April 17, according to images from the semi-official ISNA news agency.
Speaking at the event, President Hassan Rohani insisted that Iran's military power was solely for defensive and deterrent purposes.
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Iran announced on April 11 that Russia had delivered the first part of its shipment of S-300 missile systems to Tehran.
In 2010, Russia froze an agreement to supply the S-300, among the world's most capable air defense systems, to Iran under pressure from the West.
The US and Israel have expressed concern about the missile systems, fearing they could upset the regional military balance of power.
Navab Ebrahimi, a popular Iranian chef known for his
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