BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:15 P.M.) – The Russian military has denied testing their S-500 air defense system in Syria, despite early reports that cited the Ministry of Defense.
According to the military, trying these systems in difficult climatic conditions is key to testing their effectiveness; therefore, Syria would not be ideal for them.
“The S-500 is designed to combat ballistic and aerodynamic targets at long ranges. There was no need for testing the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system in the Syrian Arab Republic,” the military department said, as quoted by the Tass News Agency.
The military department said the air defense systems in Syria already protect the Russian military installations at the Tartous naval base and Hmeimim Airbase .
In particular, they pointed out that the S-400, Pantsir-S1, Tor-M2 and Su-35S are already active inside Syria.
As noted by the Ministry of Defense, the experience of using various Russian air defense systems in Syria is certainly taken into account when developing promising weapons systems, as well as individual units and subsystems. If necessary, individual elements of the created systems can be tested in real combat conditions.
Earlier this year, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported that the supply of the S-500 system to the troops will begin in 2020. The complex is being built with the possibility of operation in the next 25 years. In the Western press, it was noted that during the tests, the new Russian system was able to hit the target at a distance of 481.2 km, which is 80 km further than any existing air defense system.
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