February 25, 201610 yr Missing link (true?): http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Dozens-of-Russian-generals-in-Syria-killed-after-a-car-bomb-hits-their-military-base-445975
February 27, 201610 yr Is it true that Russia and the USA are supporting (via equipment?) opposite sides in Syria?
March 1, 201610 yr Is it true that Russia and the USA are supporting (via equipment?) opposite sides in Syria? Well, yes basically. The US are supporting anti-Assad forces and the Russians are backing Assad... then there's Daesh who is fighting all of them. It's one confusing war.
March 1, 201610 yr Author Yes, its a total quagmire. Throw in the Turks and the Kurds, and their mutual animosity, together with the fact that the myriad 'rebel' groups tend to act in their own best interests and don't necessarily share compatible ideology, and well, its probably one of the worst possible places for a peace loving civilian to find themselves these days.
March 2, 201610 yr I missed some of the subtles then. I thought Russia intervened "on the USA side", but then more recent reading made me think they hoped the "other" side won. But yeah, to many sides for me to keep up.
March 18, 201610 yr Author Russian Mi-28N (NATO Havoc) and Ka-52 (NATO Hokum B ) attack helicopters appear to have arrived in Syria just as some of the fixed wing strike contingent was leaving. Interesting development ...
March 25, 201610 yr Russian Mi-28N (NATO Havoc) and Ka-52 (NATO Hokum B ) attack helicopters appear to have arrived in Syria just as some of the fixed wing strike contingent was leaving. Interesting development ... They're still going after Daesh, so not that surprising.
March 26, 201610 yr Author Russian Mi-28N (NATO Havoc) and Ka-52 (NATO Hokum B ) attack helicopters appear to have arrived in Syria just as some of the fixed wing strike contingent was leaving. Interesting development ... They're still going after Daesh, so not that surprising. They've never been going after Daesh (as such), but rather after any and all groups that posed a threat to Assad. But in any case, that wasn't my point. The Mi-24s were active previously, with no Mi-28s or Ka-52s in sight. And now they've shown up.
March 31, 201610 yr Author On the Russian Tank Damaged by a US Missile in Syria (DefenseTech) The author of this article (who is apparently the managing editor at Military.com) doesn't seem to know how Shtora really works. The two OTShU-1-7 electro-optical jammers at the front of the T-90 turret (one of which was damaged by the explosion of the TOW missile and/or reactive armour) is NOT the primary means of disrupting semi-active laser homing missiles (like Hellfire). That would be the job of the 'aerosol' screen (aka smoke) created by the grenade dischargers. Instead, the job of the EO jammers is to interfere with the semi-active command to line of sight guidance of missiles - like the TOW 2A probably used here - by interfering with the communication between the guidance system (at the operator) and the IR beacon on the rear of the missile.
April 1, 201610 yr Author Israel-Russia Brass Continue to Coordinate Over Crowded Skies in Syria (DefenseNews) Article includes discussion of rumours of Iskander-M in-country.
August 2, 20169 yr The Russian helicopter shoot-down yesterday in Syria was a Mi-8AMTSh/Mi-171Sh Terminator, RF-95585, one of most avanced Russian transport and assault types, in service from December 2010 or February 2014 (I was very intrigued this morning by this same photo in the newspaper, showing an unidentified (at least for me) metallic electro-optic ball below the tail boom, now at home with a little research is clear). The "ball" was not present at December 2015 in the same helicopter: http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/1-august-ruaf-mi8amtsh-212--rf95585-december-2015--/comments http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-01/russia-says-five-crew-killed-as-helicopter-shot-down-in-syria#media-1
August 17, 20169 yr Author Russian Tu-22 bombers deploy to Iran and launch first air strikes on ISIS in Syria (The Aviationist) Backfires operating out of Hamadan (Iran). Now that is a Harpoon scenario if I ever saw one.
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