Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/693549
Vitebsk self-defense system. So, after the "reduction" Syrian group of Russian attack helicopters is probably not only bigger but also increased its combat capabil- ities. It was confirmed, in a combat debut of Russian Mi-28N which took place on 26th March during support mission of government forces in fights against Islam- ic State in Palmyra – city which ancient part is on the UNESCO list. Ka-52 helicopters' (which were attacking targets together with Mi-28N) debut was on 3rd April during the fights of Al – Karjatajn, a town 100km west from Palmyra. In both situations support provided by Russian attack helicopters (along with Su-24 and Su-24 frontline bombers doing 40 combat flights daily) had contributed towards government forces' success – both of those cities were recovered. Palmyra recovering is one of the greatest successes of the Syrian govern- ment forces since two years at least. In most combat actions where Mi-28N and Ka-52 were involved, they were using 80 mm unguided S-8 rockets in B-8W20A launchers and in less situations they were engaging tar- gets with guided 9M120 Ataka missiles (both in the AT, maybe newer 9M120M version and in 9M120F version with thermobaric warhead for elimination live targets). Videos published to this moment also show usage of 30mm 2A42 automatic cannon. increasing role of land comPonent. Simultaneously with publishing by Putin a withdrawal of "main forces", Russian Ministry of Defense with a propaganda campaign held in media started to prepare Russian society to fact that on the present stage of mil- itary operational in Syria presence of land forces will be increasing, mostly special forces units, engineering units, artillery and EW units so it should be prepared for higher losses among the ground personnel. The main part of that campaign was an interview with gen- eral-colonel Aleksandr Dvornikov published on 23th March in "The Russian Magazine". General confirmed that Russian land forces were involved in combat op- erations but he mentioned only about military advisers and special forces. Special forces are believed to be involved in fights from the very beginning of the inter- vention, conducting mostly reconnaissance and JTAC missions. As a sort of confirmation, on the next day Russian officials identified another fallen soldier. It was Special Operation Forces officer, 25 years old captain Aleksander Prochorenko, the joint terminal attack con- troller. According to official information, Prochorenko was surrounded in the region of Palmyra by terrorists of Islamic State. With ammunition running low and with- out chances of breaking through to the government forces, he ordered an air strike on his own position. In the last weeks, in reports from fights in Syria we can see more and more Russian soldiers which indicates their indirect but increasing role in government backed forces offensives against Islamic State and al-Nusra front. For example, in TV materials showing fights for Palmyra it was possible to see not only Russian military advisers, special forces soldiers or artillery observers but also operators of 300 mm BM-30 Smerch artillery systems or even TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flame- throwers systems,. More and more, Syrian government forces are accompanied by small Russian units re- sponsible for electronic warfare, mostly equipped with KamAZ 6x6 trucks carrying RB-341W Liejer-3 electronic warfare systems. Characteristic feature of this system, used for distortion of the GSM mobile phones, is us- age of Orlan-10 UAV which can identify communication systems and emit appropriate interference signals in the radius from 3,5 to 6km and in the distance of 125 from the flight control station. At the end of the March, there was an official decision of president Putin to rein- force land forces by deploying Russian EOD soldiers for clearing Palmyra of mines and other explosive devices. More than 80 soldiers group of Russian EOD soldiers from "International Anti-mine Center", equipped with Uran-6 robots, left to Syria on 29th March and on 2nd April they were transported from Chmeimim to Palmyra and started to operation of demining the city. There is also one situation worth mentioning that oc- curred in March and is related to the Russian military intervention in Syria. In the TV report from Chmeimim aired by Zviezda TV on 27th March viewers could eas- ily notice a single, 9P78-1 self-propelled launcher of the 9K720 Iskander-M missile system. The launcher was standing near an airstrip that was used since end of September 2015 by Russian military aircrafts. It is hard for now to precise from when and how many of the Iskander-M launchers system are in Chmeimim. It leaves no doubt that Syrian "marketing campaign" of new Russian armament is still going well. www.fragoutmag.com