Russia plans to create electronic warfare systems based on analysis of US missiles found in Syria
Vladimir Mikheyev, adviser to the first deputy CEO of Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET), said that within three years, Russia will create new electronic warfare systems using information gained from an examination of the unexploded American Tomahawk cruise missiles acquired by Russia’s Defense Ministry following the western coalition’s airstrike on Syria, RIA Novosti reports.
“Of course, on the basis of this experience [the airstrike on Syria], technical assignments are now being prepared for new operations, as part of which, taking into account all of the acquired information, we will build models of our new electronic warfare equipment,” the senior adviser said.
According to Mikheyev, the primary task is to ensure that the Russian equipment covers all of the frequency ranges which were observed in the American missiles. A full work cycle on the electronic warfare systems is expected to take two to three years. “Primarily as specialists, we are very interested in observing the real implementation of various kinds of military equipment in Syria, including Tomahawks. With this missile in hand, we understand clearly what channels of communication, information transfer and control, navigation and location it possesses,” Mikheyev explained.
On April 14, the US, Britain and France carried out multiple airstrikes on Syria. The coalition fired more than a hundred missiles at facilities which were assumed to be the locations of laboratories for the production of chemical weapons. The US and other states accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of using chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma.
After the attack, Sergey Rudskoy, head of the operational command of the General Staff of Russia’s Armed Forces, reported that only 22 missiles had reached their targets. “Some of the missiles did not reach their targets, apparently due to technical malfunctions, creating the threat of destroying civil objects and causing the death of civilians. Two of them, including a Tomahawk cruise missile and an aviation high-precision missile, have been sent to Moscow,” he said. The Russian Defense Ministry later presented fragments of coalition missiles, but the Pentagon called this another “smokescreen of Russian propaganda”.
In 2014 the US placed sanctions on Russian defense companies, including KRET.