The S-400 strikes out: Further evidence of the failure of Putin's super-weapon

American Thinker ^ | 04/24/2018 | J.R. Dunn

[SeekAndFind]

The past few days have revealed yet more evidence of the failure of one of Vladimir Putin’s world-beating whiz-bangs – the S-400 Triumf antiaircraft system.

The S-400 is a supposedly state-of-the-art SAM system capable of knocking down either aircraft or missiles from treetop level to high altitude. It’s a multilayered system featuring four distinct missile types with a maximum range of nearly 250 miles, which means that it dominates airspace of the eastern Mediterranean littoral. It is considered to be best in its class, the missile system to beat. Some observers have gone so far to assert that the S-400 threatens to eliminate use of air power over the battlefield.

Russia deployed two S-400s to Syria, the first in late 2015 after a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian SU-24, the second in January of this year.  This was generally interpreted as Moscow laying down a marker as to how seriously in took its Syrian alliance. The Russians played this to the hilt, periodically threatening to unleash the S-400 on all comers while utilizing the system as a shield for the activities of forces loyal to Bashar Assad.

The deployment of the S-400 led to serious misgivings and sleepless nights among Western nations, particularly in Israel. This ended with the April 13 strike against Assad’s nerve gas industry, when the U.S., Britain, and France fired 105 missiles against targets in Syria. Every last missile hit its target while the mighty S-400, Slayer of Missiles, failed to launch so much as a single SAM in response. (The Syrians fired a number of missiles – perhaps as few as two – after the strike occurred. They hit nothing.)

[TallahasseeConservative]

The Russians are what they have been since the late ‘80’s, a paper tiger. If Trump truly wanted to take the Russians down a peg or two, just simply initiate a new arms race, they’d hang on a little longer than they did with Reagan, but eventually go bankrupt.

[Meet the New Boss]

S-400...failed to launch so much as a single SAM in response

Not even a miss? Did the Russians turn it off after we assured them none of their forces were being targeted?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Not even a miss? Did the Russians turn it off after we assured them none of their forces were being targeted?

I suspected that when I heard that Trump actually gave the Ruskies a heads up as to his intentions.

[Gen.Blather]

Anti-air is becoming an economics game. How much does a SAM cost? What is its effectiveness? Could you potentially use your entire inventory to counter a drone strike and then get hit by a manned air strike?

Iron Dome missiles cost $45000 each. The missiles they are shooting down average $1000-1500?

[Lazamataz]

Every last missile hit its target while the mighty S-400, Slayer of Missiles, failed to launch so much as a single SAM in response.

That's called 'holding your cards close to your chest.'

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Not even a miss? Did the Russians turn it off after we assured them none of their forces were being targeted?

Before I make an assumption that the S-400 is junk I too would want to look a little deeper into the subject. See if Ivan turned it off, or the Syrians were busy at a Goat Orgy first.

[Snickering Hound]

Well, their air defense systems didn't work as advertised in the 80's either.

[Texas Fossil]

I suspect they did not attempt to fire the weapons.

They knew they would give away the actual abilities of the weapon, would not stop US from destroying the target and they knew the target was illicit weapons.

They were warned we were about to, they chose to let it happen.

[CurlyDave]

...Not even a miss? Did the Russians turn it off after we assured them none of their forces were being targeted?

Might have been a very smart move.

We would have been listening very carefully for the signatures of their system.

Far better for it to be untried and unproven than to become a known quantity with countermeasures in place.

[17th Miss Regt]

Another possibility is that someone found a software vulnerability and inserted a virus into the C-cubed-I system causing them to not fire anything. (The Israelis did this about eight or nine years ago.) The Russians certainly would not say anything as it would confirm a system vulnerability to countermeasures. We would not say anything either.

So no missiles are fired and no one admits anything. Sounds like a system failure but could be much more specific than “lousy system”.

[SJSAMPLE]

Matthius Rust, IIRC.
After he was released from a Soviet prison, he went home and stabbed some girl.

[Blood of Tyrants]

T?he Russians claimed to have shot down over 70 missiles.

[volunbeer]

Based on what I read in the European media after the attack it appears that the Russians did not activate or turn on the S-400 system. The claims by some that this missile system is so advanced that it could clear the skies of aircraft is simply stupid in the extreme. Throughout the history of warfare for every great thing there is a countermeasure - often surprisingly cheap.

I imagine the future (in the short term) of anti-aircraft suppression lies in drones and stealth technology. There is no way to hide the transmission of radar - it announces its presence loudly and it makes the most essential part of the system very vulnerable. Once it activates if there are drones in the area the radar is toast. There is also no evidence that the S-400 reliably detects our stealth aircraft.

Despite the bluster from Putin, there was no upside to them employing the S-400 to protect facilities that Assad had already evacuated so they can continue to tout their system and we can continue to speculate on its effectiveness, but without a doubt drones have changed and will change the threat and countermeasure game in ways we cannot imagine.

[dsc]

“The Russians are what they have been since the late ‘80’s, a paper tiger.”

The USSR was *always* a paper tiger. Some people called them “a third-world country with first-world weapons,” but even that was overestimating them.

Our intel agencies consistently overstated Soviet capabilities throughout the Cold War.

One of the major reasons there was no nuclear war was that their weapons were not accurate enough to take out our response capability, while we could drop a warhead on the podium in the Supreme Soviet.

We were also able to track their missile subs and take them out at will. The Japanese ruined that for us when Toshiba gave our non-cavatating propellers to the USSR.

[Mark17]

I suspect they did not attempt to fire the weapons.

I think you are right. I think the Russians knew what buildings would be destroyed in Syria, and maybe they figured the loss of a few buildings, was acceptable.

[dsc]

“Throughout the history of warfare for every great thing there is a countermeasure - often surprisingly cheap.”

I wonder how the S-400 would do against the Wild Weasel.

[catnipman]

the list of the various changing russian claims of the S-400 from shooting down to 70 allied missiles to “well, we didn’t use them at all on purpose” and everything in between, OUGHT to be powerful lessons to Freepers here who lap up every word of russian propaganda posted here.

OTOH, it looks to me like much of the russian propaganda here is posted by repeat offenders who i suspect are actual russian trolls themselves ... something else Freepers should keep in mind when they chime in on how great the russians are ...

[Skooz]

The Syrians fired a number of missiles – perhaps as few as two – after the strike occurred. They hit nothing.

Well, they hit something ...

[RinaseaofDs]

Israel did something similar when it took out the Bushear plant back in the 00’s. Syria went dark, the Israeli’s took out the plant, and they came home and had lunch.

My guess is the systems were a) not on line, b) not ready for prime time - potemkin village style, or c) disabled through something clever.