Russia tests new weapons in Syria

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The Russian military’s recent involvement in the Syrian conflict beginning on September 30 surprised many military experts and policymakers in the West. Although most policy analysts discussed this bold move in terms of its political implications for the region it may be argued that Russia is actually interested in testing its new weapons systems and modern military equipment in hot conflict zones.

Having been defeated in the protracted Cold War Russia suffered profoundly from poverty and internal ethnic conflict in the 1990s. The economic struggle of the time led the once-intimidating Red Army of the Soviet Union to a significant loss of military capabilities. The Russian military lagged far behind its Western opponents which projected enormous precision strike capabilities in the 1991 Gulf War. Here they displayed that they could hit any target they wanted anytime anywhere.

Putin’s aspirations to change the unipolar international system into a multipolarity has had a direct impact on Russia’s military capabilities. The modernization program of the Russian military seems to have shifted the equilibrium which rested on Western technological superiority in the 1990s. Russia has increased its military expenditure dramatically. The chart below shows how Russia’s military expenditure as a percentage of its GDP enhanced steadily starting from below 4 percent in 2011 but exceeding the 5 percent threshold in 2015.[1]



According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Russia’s military expenditure evinced nearly a 30 billion USD increase between 2008 and 2014 from 61.483 billion USD to 91.694 billion USD.

Russia’s engagement in Syria presents an apposite opportunity for the Russian military to test the effectiveness of its modernization program even though its involvement in the conflict is very limited. Since the Gulf War the Western states had employed precision tactics in many conflicts such as Kosovo Afghanistan and Iraq whereas Russia could not test its precision capabilities in actual combat zones.

Some of the modern Russian munitions with modern precision technology include the Kh-25 laser-guided missileand the KAB-500S Glonass satellite-guided bomb. However these weapons are used in limited numbers according to the defense consultancy company IHS. A Russian military expert Mikhail Barabanov said “There have been no casualties the intensity of action is quite high and new types of weapons — such as satellite-guided bombs cluster munitions with smart elements and cruise missiles — have been tested.” Barabanov believes it is still too early to judge the success of the new equipment.

There are only 30 Russian fixed-wing aircraft and 20 helicopters operating inside Syria all of which are based in the coastal city of Latakia according to state sources. Defense News reports that Russian aircraft have conducted a total of 669 sorties in the country citing Russian state media accounts. 115 of these sorties were launched at night showing the improved night vision capabilities of the Russian air force. At the tactical level Russia has been performing precision strikes rather than more traditional Russian air-ground cooperation operations. Yet air assaults in some places like in the north of Homs were aimed at providing air support for advancing Syrian ground forces.