Russian Pantsir-S systems in Syria only around ten percent effective
Israel has decided to disclose information on the extremely low effectiveness of the Russian aerial defense systems transferred to Syria. According to NZIV, to take down a single anti-radar missile fired by an Israeli F-16, the Russian anti-air systems waste on average 8-9 missiles, essentially firing at random.
“The Syrian anti-air defense systems have been able to repel a missile attack on Damascus after the launch of several missiles, but some nevertheless destroyed their targets extremely successfully. What, then, is the effectiveness of the Syrian anti-air defense? Regardless of which anti-air divisions have been equipped with Russian weaponry and equipment, there is not always publicly available and reliable data, but if we take, for example, the Israeli Air Force’s attack on the evening of February 5… Syria’s anti-air systems were seriously damaged and destroyed. Of the eight missiles fired by Israeli aircraft, four were shot down. In contrast, Syria’s anti-air defense used 35 surface-to-air missiles, which itself indicates random, rather ineffective shooting,” the news outlet observes.
Thus, in order to repel a large-scale Israeli airstrike, Syria requires a much larger number of anti-missiles, although at present the ratio of missiles to anti-missiles is presumed to be 1:1 or at most 1:2, which raises e lot of questions.