S-300s Crowd The Coast

The Strategy Page ^ | 4/11/2010 | The Strategy Page

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

China now has eight battalions of S-300PMU2 anti-aircraft missile systems, on the coast opposite Taiwan. These missiles have a range of 200 kilometers, and are positioned to fire on Taiwanese fighters as soon as they begin to cross the 180 kilometer wide Taiwan straits. This deployment dismayed most Taiwanese, although Taiwanese military leaders pointed out that they have Patriot anti-aircraft missiles deployed along the island coast. But the Patriot only has a range of 70 kilometers, and no one wants to talk about any electronic countermeasures Taiwan might have, that could neutralize the S-300 radars and missiles. It gets worse. Two years ago, China began upgrading its anti-aircraft missiles, along its southern coast (facing Taiwan), from S-300PMU1 and S-300PMU2 systems to the S-300PMU3 (which has been renamed the S-400 because of the large number of improvements.) The S-300/400 system is roughly equivalent to the U.S. Patriot system, and was originally known as the SA-10 to NATO, when the system first appeared in the early 1980s. There have been many upgrades since.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Can the Russians place a S-300 on a Su-30? Again, placing a Patriot missile on a F-15 is rather technological feat.

[spetznaz]

No, they cannot place a S-300 on a fighter jet. However, they do not have to. It would be me saying that the T-72 is 'vastly superior' to the M1A2 because the T-72 can fire a missile from its gun while the Abrams can 'only' fire depleted Uranium armor piercing sabots. Sure, the 72 has a trick the Abrams does not have, however the Abrams is a far better system/weapon/defensive platform/battlefield asset than the T-72 could EVER be.

For ABM duties (and the S-300 and its predecesors went around some ABM treaties) the S-300 is good enough. Russia is not necessarily worried of fending off MRBMs from Iran and shooting them in their boost phase, or higher up when they are starting to come down. Thus they do not need to have S-300s on Flankers, even if they could fit. As for other longer range missiles for use on an air-to-air platform, they have some rather long sticks, particularly when it comes to anti-AWACS duties.

Vastly superior? No.