Israel Matzav

Russia provides Syria with Yakhont anti-ship missiles

Well, here's something those Russian ships might be doing near the Syrian port of Tartus: They just might be delivering Yakhont land-to-sea missiles.

Despite the growing civil war in Syria, Russia is honoring an order, earlier this year, for an unspecified number of SSN-26 Yakhont anti-ship missiles. The order was finally confirmed eight months ago, after four years of haggling and efforts by Israel and the United States to block the sale. Apparently the missiles have already been paid for, and Syrian has assured Russia that the missiles can safely be delivered by ship. Russia is happy for any sale, but seems particularly anxious for this missile to get some combat experience.

The Yakhont was under development throughout the 1990s, but was delayed by lack of funds. Now it's in production, and the Russians have been energetically seeking export sales. The Yakhont uses a liquid-fuel ramjet and travels 300 kilometers at speeds of over 2,000 kilometers an hour (using a high altitude cruise and a low-altitude approach; if it travels entirely at low altitude the range is cut to 120km). When the missile arrives in the area where the target is supposed to be, it turns on its radar and goes for the kill. Israel is the only one in the region the Yakhonts would be used against. However, because Iran is supplying (unofficially) the cash for the missiles, there is also the risk that some of the Yakhonts would end up in Iran for use against numerous targets in the Persian Gulf.

The ground based Yakhont can use truck mounted or fixed launchers, with up to 36 missiles supported by a land based search radar and helicopter mounted radars (to locate targets over the horizon). Once a target has been identified and located, one or two missiles are programmed with that location and launched. The Yakhont is a 8.9 meter (27.6 foot) long, three ton missile with a 300 kg (660 pound) warhead.

The sale of the Yakhont's to Syria has been described as a potential game-changer, without even considering the fact that a new model, with twice the speed, is apparently nearly ready. Until now, Israel has couched its opposition to the sale of these missiles to Syria in terms of fear that they would end up in Hezbullah's hands. Now, I would bet on the Yakhont's being one of the first things we go after in the next war, just like we went after Hezbullah's Zelzal long-range missiles right at the beginning of the Second Lebanon war.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Hezbullah, Russia, Syria, Yakhont land to sea missile, Zelzal missiles

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:34 AM