Russia Donates Three S-300PM Air Defence Systems, 100 Missiles to Syria

Russia earlier this month has donated three battalion sets of S-300PM air defense systems of eight launchers each along with 100 surface-to-air guided missiles to each battalion to Syria.

"On October 1, three battalion sets of S-300PM systems of eight launchers each were delivered to Syria," a military diplomatic source was quoted as saying by TASS on Monday.

"These systems were previously deployed at one of the Russian aerospace forces’ regiments which now uses the S-400 Triumf systems. The S-300 systems underwent capital repairs at Russian defense enterprises, are in good condition and are capable of performing combat tasks," the source said, adding that the S-300PM systems were handed over to the Syrian side free of charge.

According to the source, along with the launchers Russia delivered more than 100 surface-to-air guided missiles for each battalion.

An agreement on supplies of Russian S-300 missile defense systems to Syria was signed as far back as 2010 but was later frozen. Following the incident with the Russia Ilyushin-20 reconnaissance plane over the Mediterranean, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on September 24, 2018 that Russia would supply S-300 systems to the Syrian army to reinforce its combat capacities. On October 2, Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin that the S-300 systems had reached Syria.

On Tuesday, Shoigu said Russia had supplied Syria with 49 pieces of equipment as part of the S-300 delivery intended to boost security of the Russian taskforce in that country. The equipment included radars, control vehicles and four launchers. According to the minister, the delivery was finished a day ago.

According to the minister, the delivery was finished on October 2, 2018. The Russian Defense Ministry published a video showing the delivery of the missile defense system. The video aired by the Rossiya 24 and Zvezda TV channels shows the missile systems being unloaded from the An-124-100 Ruslan strategic airlift jet aircraft at the Hmeymim air base in Syria.

Russia is also training Syrian specialists on how to use the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile defense systems, Shoigu said.