Former Director of the Israel Missile Defence Organisation Uzi Rubin has revealed in an interview with the Defence News media outlet that Saudi air defences, namely Patriot systems, failed to repel the combined drone and missile attack on the country’s oil facilities in September due to the aerial assailants flying below the horizon. According to him, the defences were not prepared to detect such targets.
“When it comes to missiles, missile defence sensors will aim above the horizon because the missile is above it and you don’t want clutter. So when it comes to guarding, the issue is things that can sneak in near the ground”, he said.
Rubin said that it’s difficult to close this radar “gap”, through which low-flying objects can slip, but not impossible. He added that all the Saudis need to do is establish proper local defences.
He elaborated that no “fancy” systems are needed for this and that the quite simple and battle-proven Russian Pantsir S1 (NATO reporting name SA-22 Greyhound) systems with dual 2A38M 30 millimetre automatic cannons equipped with infrared direction finders would do the trick. Russia has been successfully using Pantsirs to repel frequent massive drone attacks on its Hmeymim base in Syria carried out by local militant groups.
Although there is no indication that Riyadh has discussed purchasing Pantsirs from Russia, it did discuss the possibility of buying Russian S-400 air defence systems in 2018, which possess certain advantages when compared with the American Patriots.
However, recent events involving Turkey and India have shown that such a purchase could spark a negative reaction from Saudi Arabia’s long-time ally, Washington, which has already threatened New Delhi and Ankara with sanctions over their acquisition of S-400s.
In light of the 14 September attacks, which crippled Saudi Aramco’s oil refineries and halved the country’s daily crude output, the Pentagon announced the deployment of an additional Patriot battery to the Middle Eastern ally’s territory. The decision comes despite two such batteries failing to foil the combined drone-missile attack, the responsibility for which has been claimed by Yemen’s Houthis.
Source: Sputnik
Be Civil
This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion
Please treat this discussion with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgment of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
Make it better
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
Now the hard part!
Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree
You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.