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S-300s in Syria Will Be Able to ‘See’ America’s 5th-Gen Jets
from Sputnik News:
The delivery of Russia’s S-300s to Syria has prompted US media to speculate that the US Air Force may deploy its F-22 stealth fighters to take out the country’s air defenses. Meanwhile, Washington also promised to supply Israel with more F-35s. But will the 5th gen planes be able to evade the Russian air defense system? Not likely, analysts say.
Referring to the S-300 deployment as a “token capability” and suggesting that the Pentagon might employ its F-22s and F-16CJ Vipers to suppress or destroy Syria’s air defenses, as they were prepared to do at the start of the US campaign of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq in 2014, The Drive argued that the US “may have to return to such tactics” after the delivery of the Russian air defense system.
Speaking to Sputnik, defense observers suggested that there is little doubt that the US Air Force would like to use this opportunity to learn more about the S-300s in the field using the F-22, a plane specially created to suppress and destroy high-tech air defenses. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they will actually have the freedom to do so, Sergei Sudakov, a professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, said.
“The US strategy of using Raptors against air defense networks looks something like this: One or several F-22s enter undetected into the enemy’s radar coverage area, switch on their electronic suppression systems and start jamming enemy detection and guidance systems. At the same time, the planes carry out strikes against radars, launchers and command posts,” the academic explained.
“Following the breakthrough, a second echelon of fighter-bombers is activated to complete the rout of enemy forces. Paralyzed by the stealth attacks, the enemy air defenses are no longer able to put up any resistance. But such operations seem smooth only on paper,” Sudakov noted.
According to the expert, even if the ground-based radars do not see the F-22s, the plane will still make its presence known as soon as turns on its on-board radio-electronic suppression system. Once that happens, ground-based control systems will be able to localize the radiation source, subsequently pointing to the aircraft’s location and launching an anti-aircraft missile to chase after it.
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