Sunday, January 31, 2016

War in Syria: Russia’s 'rustbucket' military delivers a hi-tech shock to West and Israel

Their army’s equipment and strategy was “outmoded”; their air force’s bombs and missiles were “more dumb than smart”; their navy was “more rust than ready”. For decades, this was Western military leaders’ view, steeped in condescension, of their Russian counterparts. What they have seen in Syria and Ukraine has come as a shock. Russian military jets have, at times, been carrying out more sorties in a day in Syria than the US-led coalition has done in a month. The Russian navy has launched ballistic missiles from the Caspian Sea 900 miles way, and kept supply lines going to Syria. The air defences installed by the Russians in Syria and eastern Ukraine would make it extremely hazardous for the West to carry out strikes against the Assad regime or Ukrainian separatists. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the commander of the US army in Europe, has described Russian advances in electronic warfare in Syria and Ukraine – a field in which they were typically supposed to be backward – as “eye watering”.

9 comments:

MICHAEL said...

ARROGANCE WILL GET YOUR ASS BURNED EVERY TIME.... THE PENTAGON WILL NEVER LEARN.

Nemesis said...

Mike, you'll need to look up Sputnik News - Russian source - to get the bigger picture. You may have to cut through some of the obvious Russian propaganda articles but overall, Sputnik News is telling it like it really is which is a Hell of a lot more open than anything the Western media puts up.

Anonymous said...

Mike, the part where the Russians were/are supposedly backward in Electronic warfare... the individual is sadly misinformed.

The condescension of American and Western military powers is dangerous in that it grossly underestimates the capabilities of the Russian forces. Doing so will get people hurt or worse.

Americans and NATO should put away the complacency and take a hard and realistic look at the issues, tactics and equipment involved. You can crack that nut, but it is not a simple task. To crack the nut may involve escalation to an unacceptable point, which then cedes the area to the Russians.

Consider the surprise at Pristina Airport on 12 June, 1999. Underestimation of Russians = getting pwned.

Anonymous said...

God Bless the Russians and Syria's Assad and their Militaries! As unlike ours, the Russians and Syrians, actually seem interested in Destroying 'isis', while the Western forces ( Including the American Military who are in Syria ),seem to be actually helping 'isis' to Try and gain ground.

Chiu ChunLing said...

The entire paradigm of high vs. low-tech/cost/maintenance/capability is profoundly mistaken in the first place. In a real shooting war, against an adversary that is willing to accept some casualties, the deterrence edge of a system that can guarantee you a few kills against more numerous but technically inferior adversaries is of limited value.

This is not to say that high-end systems are inherently useless in war, but they have to be deployed in a way that it is not feasible for the enemy to simply overwhelm them with numbers...even of sheer targets. Using technology to maintain advantageous command and intel capabilities while relying on more expendable units to directly engage the enemy should be common sense...as it appears the Russians have not forgotten. Trying to insure you never suffer any casualties is a recipe for surrendering any hope of winning any but the most lopsided contests.

The Russians have no doubt advanced their high-end area-denial technologies by cooperation with Beijing, despite the mistrust engendered by Beijing's habitual theft of other crucial technologies. It seems to be paying off, particularly since the only way to really know exactly what has been shared and how well it works in practice is to sacrifice planes, pilots, and Western prestige testing them in battle...something NATO is clearly extremely reluctant to do.

The point about the military advantage of accepting some collateral damage, on the other hand, is so directly on target as to need nothing but emphasis.

Anonymous said...

There was once a guy with a little mustache who also thought the Russians would be an easy pushover back in June of 1941..

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, our "heroes" running the DoD would never knowing lie and misrepresent Russia capabilities...

Oh no, what would they do if American knew the truth of the progress they would face in their very short lives there...They would have a rebellion the likes history has never seen..

That is why they LIE out their ass to our troops. but in Todays America, that's all their is, society but on layers of incessant lies...but people are so proud and full of themselves, they would keep right on living like they really were "exceptional" rather than face ANY reality...and thus we have the bloody abortion that America is today. betcha it makes you prouder than hell.

Smh. America doesn't want sobering reality, nor will it ever take responsibility and self sacrifice to fix it..im just along for the suicide ride anymore, sitting with fools waiting for their fake messiahs and mystical cavalry to arrive (but aint never gonna happen), at least I get to enjoy the sunshine to the end.

Sign ME, Neal Jensen

Not Me said...

No doubt Russia's military has been helped by the cowardly traitor in the White House (and his many minions), just as the Chinese military was helped by the sale of our most guarded secrets by that traitor Bill Clinton and his many minions.
God help us if we elect ANOTHER communist such as Hil-liar-y or Crazy Bernie.

Anonymous said...

One should not believe One's own Propaganda and Disinformation.