So I found a translation of the Russian Ministry of Defense briefing on the Syrian strike, and it is HILARIOUS:
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Russian air defense systems in Tartus and Khmeimim were providing detection and control (tracking) of all launches, both from sea and air.
Participation of French aircraft was not detected.
US used the following aircraft: F-15; F-16. UK used Tornado's. The strikes came from the Mediterranean Sea area.
US Navy destroyers launched strikes from the Red Sea.
US B-1B bombers launched their strikes while over Al Tanf area.
As of now, no reported casualties.
All in all, 103 cruise missiles were launched, among them Tomahawks.
B-1B bombers used GBU-38 guided bombs.
F-15 & 16 aircraft used air-to-surface missiles.
UK's Tornado's launched 8 SCALP cruise missiles.
SAA air defenses successfully repelled the attacks.
71 cruise missiles were intercepted.
S-125; S-200, OSA, Kvadrat (Square), Buk, Pantsir were used by SAA to repel the attack.
Russia now considers supplying S-300 to Syria and other countries.
Strikes were also launched on SAA airbases.
Duvali airbase (sorry for spelling) - 4 missiles - all shot down. No type of missiles given.
Dumeir airbase (sorry, again) - 12 missiles - all shot down. No type of missiles given.
Blay airbase (spelling) - 18 missiles - all shot down. No type of missiles given.
Shairat airbase - 12 missiles - all shot down. No type of missiles given.
All above airbases sustained no damage.
Unused Mezzeh airbase - 9 missiles - 5 shot down.
Homs airbase - 16 missiles - 13 shot down. No serious damage.
Barzah and Djaramani - 30 missiles - 7 shot down. Targets partially destroyed. Facilities were not being used.
RuMoD air defense forces were put on full combat alert. RuMoD aircraft patrolling Syrian airspace.
Not a single missile entered the Russian air defense systems' range. Those systems were not used in repelling the strike.
The strike is a response to SAA's recent successes.
The strike was launched on the same day the OPCW mission was supposed to start working in Douma.
Syria has no facilities that are capable of producing chemical weapons which was registered competent authorities.
The strike clearly shows US is not interested in finding the truth and is aiming to disrupt Syria and the entire region.
The situation in Damascus is calm.
Like, the USA/UK/France are only claiming to have hit 3 target locations; Barzah RnD Center, Him Shimshar Chemical Weapons Storage Site and Him Shimsar Chemical Weapons Bunker.
Russia is claiming they struck at a bunch of airbases too, but conveniently they suffered no serious damage because all the missiles launched at them were shot down... needless to say, the Russian claims of 71 out of 103 missiles shot down are highly dubious.
Next, they say the B-1B bombers used GBU-38 JDAMs, which only have a range of 10-20 km. How the hell could the B-1Bs have gotten close enough to drop those bombs, when Syrian air defense was capable of shooting down 71 cruise missiles? The B-1B isn't that stealthy; it'd be much easier to shoot those down than it is to shoot down 71 cruise missiles.
And the B-1B weapon bays were photographed before the mission with a load of JASSM cruise missiles, so luls for RuMoD getting easy stuff wrong.
Also, the USA says this about Syrian air defenses during the strike:
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the Syrians attempted to shoot down incoming missiles with 40 surface-to-air missiles using a "ballistic trajectory" and "without guidance."
All the videos I've seen of 'Syrian air defenses shooting down cruise missiles!' show the SAMs to be flying ballistically with no course adjustments, so no sign of any guidance, matching the Pentagon claim.
Another lul part of the RuMoD briefing is this:
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Barzah and Djaramani - 30 missiles - 7 shot down. Targets partially destroyed.
The available photographs of Barzah post strike show a bit more than 'partial destruction':
Final absurdity from the RuMoD:
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Not a single missile entered the Russian air defense systems' range.
This is total bull, because Russia has S-300 and S-400 systems in Syria, which can protect a huge amount of territory.
Like, here's range circles for S-400 at Latakia:
Even the 155 mile/250 km range 48N6 missile has sufficient range to cover Barzah RnD in Damascus, nevermind the Him Shimshar targets significantly further north near Homs (Homs is only about 110-120 km from Latakia).
So the cruise missiles were well within range of Russian air defenses; they just choose to not engage them.
Speaking of the S-400, I've long suspected the 250 mile/400 km range 40N6 missile wasn't actually in service, because there was no photographs of the missiles or even their launch canisters, nor any real information on missile dimensions.
While looking up info on the Syria strikes again today, I came across this article about the S-500 system, which talks a bit about the 40N6.
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It goes on to state that the 40N6 is a two-stage solid fuel missile that is capable of reaching speeds of nine times the speed of sound. The report also claims the thirty-foot long missile has a "blast-fragmentation warhead with a range of 310 miles and 95-percent accuracy."
Two-stage missile was already talking about in articles speculation in the 40N6, but 30-feet long is interesting, because the 48N6 is only 24.5 feet long; 30 feet is the same length as the 9M82 anti-ballistic missile used by the S-300V system, which confirms my suspicion the 40N6 is significantly larger, heavier and more expensive than the 48N6.
And googling for more information on 40N6 came up with this recent article; Russia is saying the 40N6 will enter service 'soon', so my suspicions it wasn't even in service yet were also correct.
Edited by Zergling, Apr 15 2018 - 14:09.
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Avalon304, on Apr 15 2018 - 00:35, said:
