May 30, 2013 The Times of India (AP)

BEIRUT: The Syrian president has told Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned TV station that Damascus received the first shipment of Russian air defense missiles, according to remarks released on Thursday.

Bashar Assad's comment on the arrival of the long-range S-300 air defense missiles in Syria will further ratchet up tensions in the region and undermine efforts to hold UN-sponsored talks with Syria's warring sides.

Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said earlier this week that Russia's plan to supply Syria with the weapons is a threat and that Israel was prepared to use force to stop the delivery.

The Al-Manar TV, owned by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group, released Assad's comment on the Russian missiles through its breaking news service to clients on Thursday morning. An official at the station confirmed to the Associated Press that the remark was from the interview. The TV is to air the exclusive interview later on Thursday.

On Monday, the European Union lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving way for individual countries of the 27-member bloc to send weapons to rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime. The move raised fears of an arms race in the Middle East.

Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapons shipments bound for Hezbollah. It is not clear whether Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace in these attacks.

But with the Russian missiles in Syria's possession, the Israeli air force's ability to act could be limited.

Israel has lobbied Moscow over the planned sale of S-300 air-defense missiles to Syria but on Tuesday, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said his government remained committed to the deal.

The S-300s have a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) and the capability to track and strike multiple targets simultaneously. Syria already possesses Russian-made air defenses, and Israel is believed to have used long-distance bombs fired from Israeli or Lebanese airspace. The S-300s would expand Syria's capabilities, allowing it to counter airstrikes launched from foreign airspace as well.

Monday's decision by the EU paved the way for individual countries to send weapons to Assad's outgunned opponents. The EU's move may have little impact on the conflict since no single European country is expected to send lethal weapons to the rebels anytime soon.

Britain and France, the main military powers in the EU, had pushed for lifting the embargo. They have argued that Europe's threat of arming the rebels in the future would force Assad to negotiate in good faith.

Russia, an Assad ally, harshly criticized Europe's decision to allow the arming of Syrian rebels, saying it undercuts international efforts to bring the opposing sides in Syrian conflict together for a peace conference.

MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti)

The United States’ insistence on pursuing a missile defense system in Europe is standing in the way of further cuts to Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces, Russia’s top general said on Thursday at an international security conference in Moscow.

“Russia will cut its strategic attack force only when it is certain that the United States’ development of global missile defense will not undermine its nuclear deterrent potential,” Chief of the General Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov said at the start of the two-day Military and Political Aspects of European Security conference.

The event brings together senior defense officials from Russia, the EU, the United States and Canada, as well as independent military and political experts.

Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Sergei Ivanov reiterated Russia’s position on missile defense, stressing Moscow does not seek an advantage, merely legal guarantees regarding its current and future security.

In an opening address to participants read by Sergei Ivanov, President Putin expressed his confidence that, despite differences over issues such as missile defense, the international community is in a good position to build and strengthen collective defense and security strategies.

“The necessary prerequisites are in place: the lack of any fundamental ideological differences, mutually intertwined economies, and developing cultural, scientific and business contacts between people,” Putin’s message said.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the lack of trust between Russia and the West, which he described as a “cold war relic,” is a key problem in European security, and stressed that “Russia and NATO have agreed not to view each other as enemies.”

However, NATO’s continuing eastward expansion is undermining those areas of progress that Russia and the West have achieved, Shoigu said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “transatlantic security should not oppose pan-European unity.”

“If we want to overcome mutual suspicion regarding each other’s intentions, then we need to jointly analyze the risks and develop genuinely collective, common, approaches to neutralize them,” Lavrov said.

“Working together in equitable partnership, we are able to effectively complement each other, multiplying our potential,” Lavrov added.

28 mai 2013 lapresse.ca (AFP)

Moscou - Les livraisons prévues de systèmes sol-air sophistiqués S-300 russes en Syrie sont un facteur de «stabilisation» voué à dissuader tout scénario d'intervention extérieure dans le conflit, a déclaré mardi le vice-ministre russe des Affaires étrangères Sergueï Riabkov.

«Nous considérons cette livraison comme un facteur de stabilisation», a déclaré M. Riabkov devant la presse, interrogé sur la livraison prévue à la Syrie de ces systèmes capables d'intercepter avions et missiles guidés, et qui constituent un équivalent des Patriot américains.

«Des mesures de cette sorte dissuadent en grande partie certains esprits échauffés d'envisager des scénarios dans lesquels le conflit prendrait un tour international avec la participation de forces étrangères», a-t-il ajouté.

«Il est question d'une livraison d'armes défensives au gouvernement du pays, pour la défense des infrastructures et des armées contre le recours à des moyens dont, pour autant que je sache, les rebelles et les forces d'opposition ne disposent pas», a encore souligné M. Riabkov.

Israël promet de réagir

Israël «saura quoi faire» si la Russie livre des systèmes de défense anti-aériens de type S-300 à la Syrie, a prévenu mardi le ministre israélien de la Défense Moshé Yaalon.

«Les livraisons n'ont pas eu lieu, et j'espère qu'elles n'auront pas lieu. Mais, si par malheur, ils (les S-300) arrivent en Syrie, nous saurons quoi faire», a affirmé M. Yaalon à l'issue d'une réunion de la commission de la Défense et des Affaires étrangères du Parlement.

Selon la radio militaire, M. Yaalon faisait allusion à de nouveaux raids aériens que pourrait lancer Israël, comme il l'a déjà fait au début du mois près de Damas. Ces attaques visaient, selon des responsables israéliens, à empêcher des transferts d'armes au Hezbollah chiite libanais.

Moscou regrette la levée de l'embargo de l'UE

La Russie regrette la levée par l'UE de l'embargo sur les livraisons d'armes aux rebelles syriens, qui porte un «préjudice direct» aux efforts pour une conférence internationale, a déclaré mardi la diplomatie russe.

«Cela porte un préjudice direct à la possibilité d'organiser une conférence internationale», a dit le vice-ministre russe des Affaires étrangères Sergueï Riabkov, cité par l'agence Itar-Tass.

«L'embargo est levé en dépit de toutes les déclarations de l'UE en faveur d'un règlement basé sur la déclaration de Genève (de juin 2012), et en dépit de l'accord sur la nécessité d'organiser une conférence internationale sur la Syrie», a ajouté M. Riabkov.

«Cela va à l'encontre de la politique de l'UE elle-même», a-t-il ajouté.

«C'est une manifestation de deux poids deux mesures», a déclaré ce responsable de la diplomatie russe.

Les ministres européens des Affaires étrangères ont décidé lundi soir à Bruxelles de lever l'embargo sur les armes pour les rebelles syriens.

Les 27 ont cependant convenu de ne pas livrer d'armes aux rebelles pour l'instant, pour ne pas nuire aux efforts de règlement politique.

L'initiative d'une nouvelle conférence internationale baptisée Genève-2 et rassemblant notamment représentants du gouvernement syrien et de l'opposition a été lancée début mai par les responsables des diplomaties russe et américaine, Sergueï Lavrov et John Kerry.

La question était au centre de nouveaux entretiens lundi soir à Paris entre le secrétaire d'État américain et le ministre russe, dont le pays est le principal soutien du régime de Damas.

MOSCOW, May 28 (RIA Novosti)

Russia’s delivery of S-300 air defense systems to Syria is a restraining factor against possible foreign interference in the Syrian conflict, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday.

“We believe such steps are to a great extent restraining some ‘hot heads’ from considering scenarios in which the conflict may assume an international scale with the participation of outside forces,” Ryabkov said.

He refused to say whether the Russian-made air defense systems had been already delivered to Syria.

“I can neither confirm, nor deny in what stage these deliveries are at,” Ryabkov said. “We understand all the concerns and signals sent to us from various states. We see that this issue worries many of our partners. We have no reasons to reconsider our position in this sphere.”

The sale of Russian weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime has been a source of bilateral tension between Moscow and Washington, with US officials accusing Russia of arming a regime the United States says is killing its own citizens in Syria’s raging civil war.

Last week US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the sale by Russia of S-300 air defense systems to Syria would be “destabilizing” for the region.

Russia insists that the deliveries are legal under international law and that it is not supplying Syria, the largest importer of Russian arms in the Middle East, with offensive weapons.

S-300 is widely acknowledged by defense analysts as one of the world's most advanced air defense systems. An S-300 battery would "provide coverage of much of northern and central Israel if deployed in the south west of Syria for targets other than those at low altitude," Douglas Barrie, an air warfare analyst with the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, told RIA Novosti earlier this month.

May 28, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Center for Strategic and International Studies; issued May 27, 2013)

No single aspect of US and Iranian military competition is potentially more dangerous than the missile and nuclear dimensions, and the possibility Iran will deploy long-range, nuclear-armed missiles.

At one level, Iran’s current missile and rocket forces help compensate for its lack of effective air power and allow it to pose a threat to its neighbors and US forces that could affect their willingness to strike on Iran if Iran uses its capabilities for asymmetric warfare in the Gulf or against any of its neighbors. At another level, Iran’s steady increase in the number, range, and capability of its rocket and missile forces has increased the level of tension in the Gulf, and in other regional states like Turkey, Jordan, and Israel. Iran has also shown that it will transfer long- range rockets to “friendly” or “proxy” forces like the Hezbollah and Hamas.

At a far more threatening level, Iran has acquired virtually every element of a nuclear breakout capability except the fissile material needed to make a weapon. This threat has already led to a growing “war of sanctions,” and Israeli and US threats of preventive strikes. At the same time, the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear programs cannot be separated from the threat posed by Iran’s growing capabilities for asymmetric warfare in the Gulf and along all of its borders.

While negotiations continue and still have some promise, Iran has also acquired most of the technology to design a fission warhead or bomb small enough to be carried by a fighter-bomber or long-range missile. This does not mean it has a rapid break out capability to actually deploy a nuclear weapon. It will need to test a basic device, then test weapons designs, and finally actually deploy a weapon.


Click here to reach the report’s home page, on the CSSI website.

28 May 2013 airforce-technology.com

Russia has allegedly agreed to cancel a proposed shipment of six S-300 advanced surface-air-missile (SAM) batteries under contract to Syria, a senior Russian official has said on condition of anonymity.

The official was quoted by The Sunday Times as saying that the move follows signing of an agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at the Black Sea resort of Sochi in Russia, earlier this month.

After being convinced that the systems may land into the wrong hands and be used to attack civilian aircraft at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport and push the Middle East into war, Putin decided to scrap the contract on the condition that Israel refrain from launching further air strikes on Syria, the official further said.

''We are very much concerned about this; the large Russian community in Israel is a major factor in our attitude to Israel, and we will not let this happen,'' the Russian official added.

The report, however, has been dismissed by Israel which opposes the S-300 sale to Syria, labelling the report as a 'fairy tale', and 'another piece of fantasising.'

An unnamed Israeli government official was quoted by Ynetnews.com as saying that no such agreement or understanding has been reached between Putin and Netanyahu.

"It's likely there would be a great deal of foot-dragging by the Russians, who would use it as a bargaining chip without following through with the deal,'' the official added.

Moscow, which received an $800m contract for supply of four S-300 missile systems to Damascus in 2010, has already postponed the shipment of the first batch in wake of Israel's request last year.

Developed by NPO Almaz Bureau, S-300 is a mobile, long-range air defence system designed to detect, track and destroy incoming cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and high and low-flying aircraft.

Code-named Favourite, the high-precision missile system is capable of tracking up to 100 simultaneous targets from a distance of 150km.

28 mai 2013 Romandie.com (AFP)

MOSCOU - Les livraisons prévues de systèmes sol-air perfectionnés S-300 russes en Syrie sont un facteur de stabilisation voué à dissuader tout scénario d'intervention extérieure dans le conflit, a déclaré mardi le vice-ministre russe des Affaires étrangères Sergueï Riabkov.

Nous considérons cette livraison comme un facteur de stabilisation, a déclaré M. Riabkov devant la presse, interrogé sur la livraison prévue à la Syrie de ces systèmes capables d'intercepter avions et missiles guidés, et qui constituent un équivalent des Patriot américains.

Des mesures de cette sorte dissuadent en grande partie certains esprits échauffés d'envisager des scénarios dans lesquels le conflit prendrait un tour international avec la participation de forces étrangères, a-t-il ajouté.

Il est question d'une livraison d'armes défensives au gouvernement du pays, pour la défense des infrastructures et des armées contre le recours à des moyens dont, pour autant que je sache, les rebelles et les forces d'opposition ne disposent pas, a encore souligné M. Riabkov.

Le responsable russe a fait ces commentaires au lendemain de la levée par l'Union européenne de l'embargo sur les livraisons d'armes aux rebelles syriens, critiquée par Moscou alors que les efforts portent sur l'organisation d'une conférence internationale pour un règlement pacifique.

Le contrat sur les S-300 avait été signé il y a quelques années avec le gouvernement syrien, a souligné M. Riabkov.

La presse américaine avait publié début mai des informations de source israélienne selon lesquelles la livraison de ces systèmes de défense perfectionnés était imminente.

Ces livraisons, qui rendraient très difficile toute intervention ou zone d'exclusion aérienne en Syrie, avaient été évoquées quelques jours après qu'Israël avait bombardé des cibles proches de Damas, selon un responsable israélien, pour empêcher le transfert d'armes au Hezbollah libanais allié du régime syrien.

Moscou avait confirmé s'apprêter à livrer ces systèmes, soulignant qu'ils étaient purement défensifs.

May 27, 2013: Strategy Page

Russia recently delivered more of its Yakhont (officially 3M55E, NATO ID is SSN-26) anti-ship missiles to Syria. This is a new version with a much improved guidance system. Israel fears that some of these missiles will be sent to Hezbollah who might use them against Israeli ships or offshore natural gas field platform facilities. Israel is trying to persuade Russia to stop delivering the missiles but Russia is reluctant to halt these shipments. Iran appears to be paying for this, so the loss of income would be felt in Russia.

This sort of thing has been going on for a while. Two years ago Russia delivered 72 Yakhonts and 18 of the mobile ground launchers (each carrying two missiles) to Syria. Also included were five battery command vehicles. Typically a Yakhont battery consists of one of these vehicles, four launchers and several more trucks carrying security and maintenance personnel and equipment. The 2011 shipment cost $300 million dollars. The missiles can be stored in their launch containers for seven years before they require major components replacements and refurbishment to stay operational. Yakhonts have a range of 300 kilometers and are very hard to stop. Syria accounted for seven percent of Russian arms exports in 2011, and Russia wanted to show that they always deliver. Russia was also building a naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus.  At this point Russia says it is simply delivering weapons ordered before the civil war began two years ago.

The shipment of Yakhont missiles to Syria two years ago came after four years of haggling and efforts by Israel and the United States to block the sale. Apparently the missiles were already paid for before delivery. Russia was happy for any sale and seemed particularly anxious for Yakhont to get some combat experience.

Yakhont was under development throughout the 1990s, but was delayed by lack of funds. By 2011 it was in production, and the Russia was energetically seeking export sales. The Yakhont uses a liquid-fuel ramjet and travels at speeds of over 2,000 kilometers an hour (using a high altitude cruise and a low-altitude approach; if it travels entirely at low altitude the range is cut to 120km). When the missile arrives in the area where the target is supposed to be, it turns on its radar and goes for the kill. Israel is the only one in the region the Yakhonts would be used against. However, because Iran is supplying (unofficially) the cash for the missiles, there is also the risk that some of the Yakhonts would end up in Iran for use against numerous targets in the Persian Gulf.

Syria is getting the ground based Yakhont which can use truck mounted or fixed launchers, with up to 36 missiles supported by a land based search radar and helicopter mounted radars (to locate targets over the horizon). Once a target has been identified and located, one or two missiles are programmed with that location and launched. The Yakhont is a 8.9 meter (27.6 foot) long, three ton missile with a 300 kg (660 pound) warhead.

An improved version of the Yakhont, the PJ-10 BrahMos missile, was developed for India. This is a 9.4 meter (29 foot) long and 670mm diameter missile. Lacking money to finish Yakhont development and begin production, the Russian manufacturer eventually made a deal with India to get it done. India put up most of the $240 million needed to finally complete two decades of development, an effort which produced the long delayed Yakhont, and more capable BrahMos.

The PJ-10 is being built in Russia and India, with the Russians assisting India in setting up manufacturing facilities for cruise missile components. Efforts are being made to export up to 2,000, but no one has placed an order yet. Russia and India are encouraged enough to invest in BrahMos 2, which will use a scramjet, instead of a ramjet, in the second stage. This would double speed, and make the missile much more difficult to defend against.

May. 25, 2013 By WENDELL MINNICK – Defense News

TAIPEI — Taiwan faces tough choices over future defense decisions as China’s air defense network continues to grow beyond its shores.

At present, China’s land-based mobile air defense missile systems, HQ-9 and S-300, can reach only a small sliver of northwestern Taiwan. Though a clear advantage during a war over control of the middle line of the Taiwan Strait, it is not complete air dominance of the island itself.

However, with the planned purchase of the 400-kilometer-range Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, China will for the first time have complete air defense coverage of Taiwan.

Ongoing negotiations with the Chinese on S-400 were confirmed by Russian officials last year, said Vasily Kashin, a researcher with Moscow’s Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.

“This may be one reason that Taiwan is no longer pushing hard for fourth-generation F-16 replacements,” said Ian Easton, China military specialist at the Project 2049 Institute. Taiwan knows that by 2023, it will need F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. If the US refuses to sell them to Taiwan, as it did with the F-16C/Ds, Taiwan’s “only other option is to engage in a sharp ramp-up of cruise missile production and deploy ballistic missiles as well.”

Taiwan does have other options that include improving its electronic warfare capabilities, he said. “Also, it’s important to remember that Taiwan’s territory extends right up to the Chinese coast. Taiwan has missile, rocket and other weapons systems capable of engaging SAM networks from the Dongyin, Matzu and Kinmen island groups right off the coast of Fujian province.”

Taiwan’s military could use these islands as staging grounds for the insertion of special operations forces, Easton said. These forces include the 101 Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion (“Army Frogmen”), Airborne Special Service Company and Special Forces Command, which consists of the 862 and 871 Airborne Groups. The Taiwan Marine Corps has the Amphibious Reconnaissance Patrol.

“As such, if the Chinese move the S-400s too close to the coast, they are going to be in peril,” he said.

“Militarily, the deployment of S-300 PMU2 at the opposite side of the strait already puts considerable stress on Taiwan fighter pilots, and now with introduction of the more modernized S-400 SAM, which sooner or later would follow the S-300 PMU2 pattern of deployment in Fujian province,” will make the situation even worse for Taiwan fighter pilots, said York Chen, a former member of Taiwan’s National Security Council.

“When S-400s work together with Chinese land- and sea-based fighters, the Chinese will have more confidence in sustaining airspace dominance over the Taiwan theater, thus depriving any organized resistance by the Taiwan Air Force and deterring the American intervention,” Chen said. It is time the US seriously rethinks Taiwan’s export request for the AGM-88 high-speed anti-radiation missile for its F-16s, he said.

A sale of the S-400 could go forward in 2017 at the earliest, but so far, there has been no news on any results, or about a memorandum of understanding signing, Kashin said. It is also unclear how many systems the Chinese want to buy.

“The key issue is that S-400 producer Almaz-Antey is overloaded with orders from the Russian military and some foreign customers,” Kashin said. “In the past, Russian officials have said that the SAMs’ delivery can take place only after Almaz-Antey fulfills the main contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense, sometime after 2017. Even if there is fast progress in negotiations, and the Russians agree to revise the 2017 deadline, the delivery will take some time because of production capacity shortages at Almaz-Antey.”

The S-400 has implications not just for Taiwan, but also for India, Japan and the US.

Recognizing that future wars will be missile-centric, China’s potential acquisition of S-400 SAMs would represent an important move because these systems allow for ballistic-missile defense capabilities that it lacks, Easton said. “For this reason, it could lead to an arms race with India, which relies upon ballistic missiles to deter China.”

The S-400 also will cover the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China also claims as the Diaoyu Islands.

For the US, the implications are less serious, Easton said. “We designed F-22s and F-35s with these types of air defense challengers in mind.”

Nonetheless, air superiority is eroding in the western Pacific due to a lack of hardened air bases on Okinawa, he said. “When you combine soft US air bases with hard Chinese air defense systems, the picture doesn’t look good.”

More broadly, assuming trends continue, the future air defense environment is going to be highly conducive to drone warfare, Easton said, noting the recent test flight of the X-47B unmanned combat aerial system concept demonstrator May 14 off the US aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.

“Why send manned aircraft into threat environments so high that even elite pilots refer to their missions as one-way trips? And why spend the extra money and reduce endurance and payloads when you can pilot aerial vehicles remotely or allow them to run semi-autonomously for far greater effect?” Easton said.

DUBAI, 26 mai - RIA Novosti

La Jordanie voudrait déployer des batteries de missiles US antiaériens Patriot le long de sa frontière avec la Syrie afin de protéger son espace aérien, a déclaré dimanche le ministre jordanien de l'Information Mohammad al-Momani, cité par les médias arabes.

"Nous souhaiterions nous équiper de ce système de défense afin de renforcer notre capacité défensive et de protéger l'espace aérien du pays", a indiqué le ministre.
Selon lui, la Jordanie est en négociations aves des "pays amis" concernant ce problème.

La Jordanie est un allié très proche des Etats-Unis dans la région. Auparavant, le Pentagone a annoncé avoir dirigé dans ce pays près de 200 instructeurs militaires afin de former leurs collègues jordaniens suite à la crise en Syrie voisine.

La frontière qui sépare la Jordanie de la Syrie est longue de 370 kilomètres. Près de 500.000 réfugiés syriens ont trouvé refuge en Jordanie.

KALININGRAD, 24 mai - RIA Novosti

Les radars russes d'alerte précoce "Voronej", construits dans les régions d'Irkoutsk et de Kaliningrad, seront optimisés d'ici la fin 2014, a déclaré vendredi le ministre russe de la Défense Sergueï Choïgou, lors d'une visite d'inspection au radar Voronej-DM de Kaliningrad.

"Le programme national d'armement prévoit d'assurer la couverture totale du territoire russe par les radars, afin de parer toute attaque de missiles balistiques suivant n'importe quelle trajectoire et venant de n'importe quel secteur. Il faut combler le retard accusé dans la construction de radars dans les régions éloignées et terminer la construction des radars à ondes métriques dans la région d'Irkoutsk et à ondes décimétriques dans la région de Kaliningrad d'ici la fin de 2014", a indiqué M.Choïgou.

Selon le ministre, le président russe Vladimir Poutine a de nouveau insisté le 12 mai dernier, lors d'une réunion des responsables du ministère de la Défense, sur la nécessité de mettre en place le Système national d'alerte aux missiles protégeant l'ensemble du territoire russe.

"Nous avons déjà un radar à Kaliningrad. Les travaux en sont à un stade avancé. J'espère que nous terminerons tous les travaux à temps à Irkoutsk et à Kaliningrad", a ajouté le ministre Choïgou.

Le radar Voronej-DM (ondes décimétriques) situé à Pionerski, dans la région de Kaliningrad, fonctionne au régime d'essai depuis novembre 2011. Il doit contrôler le territoire allant de l'Atlantique du Nord à l'Afrique du Nord. Ce radar a un rayon d'action de 6.000 km. Il est en mesure de surveiller jusqu'à 500 cibles simultanément.

Le radar de type "Voronej-M" (ondes métriques) est en service opérationnel à Oussolie-Sibirskoïe, dans la région d'Irkoutsk (Sibérie orientale) depuis mai 2012. Il contrôle les attaques de missiles venant de l'Est. Le ministère de la Défense envisage d'y construire un autre rideau d'antenne pour augmenter son champ de couverture.

Ce sont des radars "préfabriqués" produits sous forme de modules (23 pièces d'équipements), ce qui permet un montage relativement rapide (de 12 à 16 mois) sur son site aménagé. Les radars soviétiques plus anciens se présentaient sous forme de grands bâtiments en béton où l'on installait des éléments radiotechniques (jusqu'à 4.000 unités d'équipements), ce qui demandait parfois plus de 5 ans pour la mise en service de la station.

La Russie compte quatre radars préfabriqués de type "Voronej", les deux autres stations de ce type étant déployées près de Saint-Pétersbourg et à Armavir, dans le territoire de Krasnodar (sud). Le radar de Saint-Pétersbourg est de type Voronej-M et celui d'Armavir - Voronej-DM.

Le ministère russe de la Défense envisage de remplacer d'ici 2020 tous les radars datant de l'époque soviétique par ces nouvelles stations. D'autres radars "préfabriqués" pourraient être installés dans les villes de Petchora, de Barnaoul et d'Enisseïsk.

5/21/2013 Strategy Page

SOUTH CHINA SEA (May 18, 2013) Two MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopters assigned to the Wolf Pack of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75 launch AGM-114 hellfire missiles during a live fire exercise. HSM 75 is part of Carrier Air Wing 11, deployed with the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Raul Moreno Jr.)

MOSCOU, 21 mai - RIA Novosti

Les essais du nouveau missile Skif se dérouleront en mer Blanche d'ici fin juin. Sa particularité ?

Il peut se mettre en veille au fond de la mer ou de l'océan et tirer au moment voulu sur des sites terrestres et navals, écrit mardi le quotidien Izvestia.

Une source du ministère de la Défense a déclaré que ce missile avait été conçu en coopération avec le bureau d'étude Roubine (Saint-Pétersbourg) et le Centre balistique Makeev (Miass) à la demande du ministère.

Pourquoi ? Aucune raison officielle n’a été avancée. Le rédacteur en chef du site Military Russia, Dmitri Kornev, souligne que l'installation de tels missiles au fond de l'océan permettrait d'éliminer des cibles stratégiques ennemies sans faire appel aux sous-marins.

"Les sous-marins stratégiques sont vulnérables face aux armes anti-sous-marines de l'ennemi.

Il suffit de détecter l’appareil et le lancement de l’un de ses missiles pourrait être facilement empêché. Or le missile Skif est pratiquement invisible", explique Kornev.

Par ailleurs Vladimir Zakharov, vice-amiral à la retraite, remarque que si l'ennemi repérait le navire qui installe les Skif au fond  de la mer, ils pourraient être facilement désamorcés.

"Si le sous-marin-porteur était suivi par l'ennemi il ne pourrait pas installer le missile. Et si ce dernier était installé dans une zone dégagée du fond marin, un sonar moderne le détecterait facilement - par conséquent tout dépendra des actions du capitaine du sous-marin-porteur", explique Zakharov.

Les essais du premier missile sont prévus pour le début de l’été en mer Blanche. Le missile sera posé par le sous-marin Sarov, spécialement modifié pour les essais du Skif. Au niveau de la proue du Sarov se trouve un lance-torpille plus large (1 m environ) et des citernes de ballast spéciales destinées à compenser le poids du missile largué et permettre au sous-marin de rester stable.

"Au cours des essais on testera le missile mais aussi son transfert en mer depuis un navire sur un sous-marin. Si tout se déroulait sans problèmes, le Skif passerait les essais d'évaluation officiels pour la mise en service du missile dans la marine russe", a-t-il déclaré.

Le Centre Makeev de Miass a confirmé qu'il travaillait sur un engin baptisé Skif mais n'a pas donné de détails sur le projet. Le bureau d'étude Roubine s'est refusé à tout commentaire, se référant au secret d'Etat