Anti-aircraft systems S-200 are regularly used to repel Israeli air raids, with such intensive use, the stocks of missiles for these air defense systems will soon be reduced to zero, writes Bulletin of Mordovia with reference to military expert Yuri Lyamin.
According to Lyamin, according open data, in the 1980s, Syria was “delivered 8 divisions (shooting channels) S-200VE and 144 V-880E missiles for them ". Since every standard anti-aircraft missile division has 6 launchers, then each of them has only three missiles.
“Three decades have passed since the delivery., and during this time Syria could well use up a significant part of the missiles. The S-200 air defense missiles were launched as before the war during the exercises, and in recent years on Israeli aircraft ", - he said.
At the same time, “strikes from outside the airspace of Syria itself forced the Syrian air defense to actively use the only long-range air defense systems, what they have is S-200VE ", the expert added.
Yes, and in the course of repelling the recent American missile strike, among other things, missiles of the S-200 system were launched.. In addition, a certain number of missiles for the S-200 air defense system were lost during the capture of one of the technical divisions near Damascus in the fall. 2012 of the year. There could have been some other unknown losses. Hard to tell, how many missiles Syria currently has in reserve, at the moment, according to satellite imagery, in most positions, the S-200VE launchers are with deployed missiles, but in the case of their further active use when repelling raids, the reserves may be exhausted, Lyamin told.
So today, the issue of equipping the Syrian air defense with modern anti-aircraft systems is very relevant. The emergence of new air defense systems will allow the Syrians, when the stocks of V-880E missiles are depleted, not only to preserve air defense capabilities, but also significantly increase them.
