Russian see heavy interest in anti aircraft systems after their performance in the Kosovo air war

Published: 6/24/1999

At the Paris Air Show, a manager from Rosvooruzhenie (Russian Armament) state arms-trade agency, agreed to give Concise his views on the effects of the Balkan war on his company's business activities. Requesting anonymity, he said that the war had generated a “higher than ever” interest in Russian surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). During the past few years, SAM deals have been somewhat overshadowed by big fighter sales to China and India. But an analysis of Russian arms sales excluding India and China, would show SAMs at the top of the list for Rosvooruzhenie's clients. The manager from Rosvooruzhenie confirmed that, in 1998, the agency signed a number of contracts on SAMs sales but, only the most substantial were publicly announced. These included two deals with Greece, for the Thor-M1 and Asa-AK short-range systems respectively, amounting to $700m. Russia has recently delivered a batch of Thor-M1 to China, and is negotiating a follow-on contract. Finland, Cyprus, Brazil and Kuwait have also recently ordered, or taken delivery of, Russian SAMs. The manager said that, during trade days of the Le Bourget'99, there had been “a long queue of high-ranking people visiting our chalet for talks on our air defence systems”. He added that Rosvooruzhenie had been surprised that MoDs of third-world countries were well acquainted with real effectiveness of Russian-made SAMs in Yugoslavia, “so that we did not have to spend much time on advertising”. Among those who visited the Rosvooruzhenie chalet were high-ranking Serb military officers, who claimed that their forces shot down 175 NATO aircraft and 450 unmanned airborne targets, including Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Rosvooruzhenie manager commented philosophically to Concise that: “They seem to be exaggerating a little bit, but in general their figures correspond well with our reconnaissance data”. He added that, while the Pechora medium-range systems (NATO code name SA-3) were “just occasionally successful due to their obsoleteness”. The Kvadrat (export version of the 2K12 Kub, NATO code name SA-6) had shown a launch/kill ratio similar to that during the Middle East conflict in 1973-1974 (103 missiles fired for 70 kills). The manager further confirmed that, according to Russian MoD data, several F-117s were shot down during the Balkan war, in most cases, by the Kvadrat. However, the Kvadrat's use was limited during the conflict, due to the desite of the Serb command to save 3M9 missiles for the Kvadrats system for the expected invasion of NATO troops in Kosovo. The Serb military also told Rosvooruzhenie that, during the entire war, NATO forces destroyed 10% of Kvadrat launchers, and that the missile stockpiles were depleted by 15%. Commenting on these figures, the Rosvooruzhenie manager said that Yugoslavian air defence inventory predominantly consisted of early versions of the Kvadrat, whose production began in 1967. However, the Serbs modified their Kvadrats locally in the 1980s. The Kvadrat proved to be the most effective anti-aircraft system for the Serbs, in terms of launch/kill ratio, but because of the desire to save missiles, most of NATO aircraft downed fell prey to less sophisticated systems, such as the shoulder-launched Strela heat-homing missiles and 23-mm guns.

Article ID: 621