Tom Cooper
In late September 2017, satellite photographs indicated that Russia had deployed a second Russian SA-21 surface-to-air missile system in Syria.
Purportedly, the system in question is deployed high in the mountains near Masyaf, fewer than 40 kilometers southeast of Lattakia, and right next to a battery of Bastion-P systems equipped with Oniks cruise missiles.
For many of foreign observers, this is an indication of the Russians bolstering their presence in Syria, perhaps even directly threatening operations of U.S. and allied aircraft against Islamic State extremists.
Actually, a closer look at the satellite photographs in question – to say nothing of the history of Russian SAM deployments in Syria since 2015 – reveals multiple shortcomings of the equipment in question, and mistakes by the Russians in the course of their military intervention in the countryObviously, this was hardly satisfactory. The Russian navy couldn’t keep Moskva on station off Syria indefinitely.
Furthermore, repeated attacks on Hmemmem air base by BM-21 multiple rocket launcher systems operated by Syrian insurgents have shown that Moskva’s SA-N-6s were providing no protection at all. Correspondingly, the Russians deployed at least one battery of Pantsyr-S1 — SA-22 Greyhound — SAMs at Hmemmem air base, too.
In November 2015, after the shoot-down of a Russian Su-24 by Turkish F-16s, Moscow publicly ordered the deployment of a ground-based S-400/SA-21 Growler to Hmemmem.
But the system evident in photos actually appears to be the S-350 – an advanced variant of the S-300/SA-10 Grumble that’s custom-tailored for short- and medium-range engagements of cruise missiles, combat aircraft and ballistic rockets.
In theory, this combination of SA-10s and SA-21s – or SA-22s and SA-21s – should have sealed the skies not only over Hmemmem, but indeed over the entire Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea. However, operational experience has shown that this is not the case.
The primary problem of the S-350 or S-400 SAM-site deployed at Hmemmem is the local terrain. This air base is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, fewer than 10 kilometers west of the Alawite Mountains, and only 40 kilometers south of the Turkmen Mountains
https://warisboring.com/russias-air-defenses-in-syria-have-some-big-problems/
