Latest news with #Pantsir-S1
News18
3 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Russia Defies UN Sanctions To Arm North Korea With High-Speed Pantsir Defence System: Report
Last Updated: Russia's overt flouting of the arms embargo is one thing but to actively help North Korea improve missile precision, that crosses a dangerous line, a diplomat in Seoul said In a revelation that could rattle global diplomatic circles, a leaked international monitoring report has exposed a surge in the covert military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, in direct violation of longstanding sanctions by the United Nations. The findings, published by a multilateral task force headquartered in Seoul on Thursday, alleged that Russia transferred advanced air defence systems, electronic warfare gear, and other military hardware to North Korea in recent months. According to the report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), established after Russia vetoed the extension of the UN's own North Korea expert panel last year, the Russian military has delivered the Pantsir-S1 mobile air defence systems to North Korea since November 2024. These systems, armed with high-speed surface-to-air missiles and autocannons, are designed to intercept enemy aircraft and missiles at short range. The report claimed that this hardware is the same Pantsir platform deployed to defend Russian airspace against drone and missile threats. The Pantsir is tactical system, designed for short-range defence, and has an effective engagement envelope of 1.2 to 20 kilometres. The MSMT's report also detailed on the arms pipeline between Russia and North Korea. Since September 2023, North Korea is believed to have shipped roughly 20,000 containers of military supplies to Russia. The cache reportedly includes more than 90 lakh artillery shells, hundreds of tactical missiles, and other munitions – enough to sustain multiple brigades on the front lines in Ukraine. The report claimed that Russian aircrafts, specifically Ilyushin IL-76 and Antonov AN-124 strategic airlifters, were used between November and December 2023 to transport North Korean arms. Russia also reportedly assisted North Korea in enhancing its missile guidance technologies, a serious breach of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that Russia itself once endorsed. Russia's overt flouting of the arms embargo is one thing but to actively help North Korea improve missile precision, that crosses a dangerous line, a diplomat in Seoul said under condition of anonymity. Beyond weapons, the MSMT report also accused Russia of flooding North Korea with crude oil in excess of UN-mandated limits. More than 10 lakh barrels were reportedly transferred last year, double the permitted quota. Meanwhile, roughly 8,000 North Korean labourers, whose overseas deployments are banned under UN rules, were reportedly dispatched to Russia. The report alleged that the two nations were routing financial transactions through South Ossetia, a Russia-backed breakaway region of Georgia known for its questionable banking practices. The MSMT was formed in October 2024 by the United States and South Korea in response to the collapse of the UN's expert monitoring panel. The new coalition includes 11 countries including France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany, and aims to preserve transparency and accountability over the enforcement of sanctions on North Korea. Watch India Pakistan Breaking News on CNN-News18. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published:
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Turkey's Planned Syria Military Deployment Echoes Russia's A Decade Ago
Turkey is reportedly making preparations to take control over a strategic airbase in central Syria. The planned deployment, coordinated with the new caretaker government in Damascus, has some noteworthy parallels with Russia's deployment at the invitation of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which began just under a decade ago. Turkey is preparing to deploy domestically-made air defense systems in Syria's T-4, Tiyas air base in the country's central Homs region, Middle East Eye reported on Tuesday. According to sources cited by the outlet, Turkey plans to deploy a 'Hisar-type air defense system' at the base 'to provide air cover' before beginning reconstruction and expansion and deploying drones, including ones 'with extended strike capabilities.' The Hisar is an indigenous Turkish-made family of air defense systems built to intercept threats at different altitudes. The Hisar-A is a low-altitude system, while the Hisar-O is medium-altitude. Incidentally, Turkey previously planned to deploy those systems in Syria's northwestern Idlib province in 2020, shortly after deadly clashes with the former Assad regime. The Middle East Eye report also revealed that Ankara has long-term plans to establish a layered air defense around T-4 to defend against and deter numerous threats, including fighter jets. Such moves are undoubtedly unwelcome in Israel, which would view the deployment of air defenses in particular as an obstacle to its air supremacy over Syria. The Jerusalem Post also reported on Tuesday that Turkey seeks to provide Syria with air defense and transform T-4 into a base for drones. The Israeli Air Force destroyed the remnants of Assad's former Russian-supplied air defenses during an extensive campaign of airstrikes shortly after that regime's collapse in December 2024. Russia has also withdrawn its strategic air defenses from its airbase on the Syrian coast. There are some notable parallels between Turkey's purported planned deployment at T-4 and the Russian military's September 2015 intervention in Syria during the bloody years of the civil war. Among the early signs of a buildup that month was Russia setting up a medium-range Pantsir-S1, or SA-22, at Hmeimim before the arrival of the broader expeditionary force, which included Sukhoi fighter-bomber jets. Built to provide point defense, the Pantsir-S1 was perfect for defending the base against aerial threats at close ranges. The Pantsir-S1's deployment was the first step in Russia establishing a multilayered air defense centered on Hmeimim, with long-range, strategic S-400 Triumf missile systems arriving not long later. The latter system could theoretically engage targets as far as 250 miles away. However, its actual ability to do so was long in question and never demonstrated throughout its deployment in Syria. There are also some striking similarities between the justifications for the initial Russian deployment in Syria and Turkey's planned one. Both were welcomed by the central government in Damascus, Russia by Assad and Turkey by his replacement, incumbent interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Both framed their respective interventions as necessary for combating the Islamic State, ISIS, group. Sources cited by Middle East Eye say that the upcoming Turkish deployment will support Ankara's campaign against ISIS remnants in the Syrian desert. Russia's claims about fighting ISIS were debunked not long after it began its air campaign in support of Assad. Those early airstrikes overwhelmingly focused on other opponents of Assad elsewhere in the war-torn country. Regarding the Pantsir-S1 deployment, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, General Philip Breedlove, remarked, 'These very sophisticated air defense capabilities are not about ISIS.' Nevertheless, Hmeimim would come under attack later in the war by crude but potentially deadly homemade drones launched by militias. The threat of militia drones is undoubtedly one reason behind Turkey's planned deployment of a Hisar system at T-4. At the same time, that upcoming deployment is also likely an attempt to deter or at least limit Israeli incursions into Syrian airspace, something Turkey will have a hard time doing in light of Israel's more advanced air force. Turkey's justification for deploying military forces in central Syria primarily to fight ISIS may also prove as dubious as Russia's. T-4 is not far from active ISIS remnants in the Syria Desert, who have waged a deadly insurgency for years and killed everyone from soldiers of the former Assad regime to truffle hunters. That threat does necessitate some base defenses, including short-range air defenses like the Hisar-A or even the 35 mm Korkut anti-aircraft gun. However, as Russia focused primarily on bombing Assad's opponents in the civil war, Turkey's past interventions have, for the most part, focused on targeting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the main U.S. ally in Syria against ISIS. While it has battled ISIS in Syria before, most notably in Al-Bab in 2016-17, Turkey's cross-border operations in January 2018 and October 2019 exclusively focused on the Kurdish-led forces. In more recent years, air and drone strikes have repeatedly destroyed civilian infrastructure across Syria's northeastern Kurdish regions, often leaving millions of civilians without electricity and water. In recent weeks, cross-border Turkish strikes have supported recent attacks by the self-styled Syrian National Army militia against the SDF along the Euphrates River, attacks that have killed and maimed scores of civilians. These campaigns were not nearly as destructive in terms of lives lost as, say, the Russian-backed destruction of East Aleppo in 2016. Nevertheless, they do indicate that Turkey's military presence in Syria probably won't focus primarily on combating ISIS, especially if the SDF is not disbanded and integrated into the Syrian security forces in the near future. Of course, there are also some salient contrasts between the Russian intervention of a decade ago and Turkey's upcoming one. T-4 will most likely primarily host drones and maybe some helicopters rather than F-16s. Throughout the Russian deployment, Hmeimim primarily hosted crewed fighters and tactical bombers, like the Soviet-era Su-24, the newer Su-34, and the Su-35. Russia occasionally flew strategic bombers directly from Russia, taking the opportunity to test them in combat. Turkish F-16s would have little trouble flying anywhere in Syria directly from airbases on Turkish soil. The same goes for many Turkish drones. Furthermore, any Turkish deployment into Syria will not be in the form of an expeditionary force like the Russian one – Moscow's ability to support its Syrian bases became even more challenging after Ankara closed the Turkish Straits to Russian warships following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Resupplying T-4 from Turkey will also prove much less logistically challenging than Hmeimim or the Tartus naval base was for Russia. Another difference involves Israel. While Israel was wary of Russia cooperating with Iran and its militia proxies in Syria, it promptly established a de-confliction mechanism with the Russian military shortly after Moscow's intervention. Throughout the intervening decade, Russia posed little to no obstacles to Israel attacking Iran-linked targets throughout the country, aside from instances in which airstrikes impacted near Russian positions. Israel repeatedly cited this successful cooperation as an excuse not to supply Ukraine with arms after the 2022 invasion. Things may not go so smoothly between Israel and Turkey. Israel is already wary of Turkish intentions in Syria and Ankara's warm ties with the new Islamist-rooted government in Damascus, so much so that it's encouraging the United States not to pressure Russia to withdraw its forces from Syria. Therefore, Israel is unlikely to tolerate any attempt by Turkey to use T-4 to limit its unrestricted access to Syrian skies.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine's Achilles UAV battalion destroys US$56m worth of Russian anti-aircraft missile and gun systems
Fighters from the 429th Achilles Separate Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment have shown how they destroyed four Russian Pantsir-C1 anti-aircraft missile and gun systems worth US$56 million. Source: Yurii Fedorenko, Commander of the 429th Achilles Separate Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment Details: On 15 March, the Achilles Regiment released the results of its work in Russia. These missions had been secret for some time. The video shows four Russian Pantsir-S1 air defence systems destroyed by the striking winged UAVs. For reference: Pantsir-S1 is a self-propelled anti-aircraft missile and gun system that provides close cover for civilian and military targets against air strikes. One such system costs about US$14 million, and the total cost of the destroyed military equipment is about US$56 million. Background: On 29 January, Unmanned Strike Aviation Systems Battalion Achilles of the 92nd Assault Brigade named after Ivan Sirko was expanded into the 429th Achilles Separate Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment within Ukraine's Ground Forces. The 429th Achilles Separate Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment has announced the launch of a recruitment campaign and is recruiting a team. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
