On March 31, according to the "Times of Israel" report, in the "Firm Lightning" exercise jointly held by the U.S. Air Force and the Israeli Air Force, the U.S. Air Force sent 25 F35A stealth fighters, and the Israeli Air Force also sent 25 F35I stealth fighters. The two sides conducted air combat confrontation, air strikes on the ground, suppression of air defense early warning and other subjects near the Golan Heights. On the last day of the exercise, 50 F35 fighters from the US and Israel were dispatched collectively to simulate an air strike on the Syrian border in the Golan Heights.
The two Israeli squadrons equipped with F35 fighters are the 140th "Golden Eagle" Squadron and the 116th "Lion" Squadron. These two squadrons have gathered the most elite pilots of the Israeli Air Force. The airspace for the Israeli fighter exercise is within the range of the Syrian air defense missile, but the Israeli Air Force still dared to conduct the exercise there, indicating that the results of the previous encounters gave Israeli pilots a lot of confidence.
Golan Heights, 71 kilometers long from north to south, about 43 kilometers wide in the center, covering an area of 1,800 square kilometers (of which Israel controls 2/3 of the area, about 1,200 square kilometers) , Located in southwestern Syria, on the east side of the Jordan Valley, east to the Rukad River, south to the Yalmuk River, north to the eastern slope of Hermon, and its southwest is adjacent to the Sea of Galilee in the upper reaches of the Jordan River. The highest altitude Mount Hermon is 2814 meters away. In recent years, Syria has spared no effort to build anti-stealth radar stations near the Golan Heights. This move can not only monitor the movements of the Israeli Air Force in real time, but also report the situation to its allies and realize information sharing.
In October 2018, the Russian army delivered the S-300 air defense missile system to Syria to strengthen the Syrian air defense system and protect the safety of the Russian forces. The system is a third-generation air defense missile weapon with all-weather, large airspace, multi-channel and mobile combat capabilities. It can intercept various combat aircraft, cruise missiles, air-to-surface missiles and medium and short-range tactical missiles. In terms of radar equipment, the system is equipped with a 5N63 type "moving cover-A" phased array radar, a 36D6 type "tin shield" three-coordinate long-range warning and target indication radar, and a 5N66/76N6 continuous "shell" radar. Wave target tracking/low-altitude blind compensation radar. The design of the 5N63S and the later 30N6 target tracking and guidance radar is very similar to the MPQ-53 passive phased array radar used by the "Patriot", and both have the ability to track and engage multiple targets at the same time. Due to the use of advanced low-sidelobe high-power technology, the radar system can work as usual even if it is strongly interfered by the enemy. However, for the F-35 stealth fighter, these radars of the S-300 air defense missile system are still powerless.
In recent years, in the face of the Syrian civil war, Russia has participated in the whole process and invested a large-scale force. Russia does not allow the rebels backed by Western countries led by the United States to plunge Syria into depth again Go in the chaos of war. A large number of Russian ground forces have entered Syria. In terms of air power, the Russian air and space forces will invest nearly a hundred combat aircraft, including the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter. In 2015, after the Su-24M was dingyly shot down by Turkey, the Russian army began to strengthen the defense of the Russian base in Syria. One of the most iconic is the airlift of the S-400 air defense missile system to the Hememim base.
S400 radar has a detection range of 1,800 kilometers, which is equivalent to the US Army’s THAAD. It has two performance advantages. One is that it can be used to attack incoming campaign tactical ballistic missiles. It has the ability to discover and intercept stealth fighters. The radar system is equipped with 91N6 type large battlefield detection and management radar, 64H6 type long-range phased array radar, Nebo-M type phased array radar, 36H6 type guidance radar, 76H6 type low-altitude blind compensation radar and other radar systems, including multiple radar systems. This band has a very comprehensive detection capability and anti-interference capability.
Nebo-M radar is a meter-wave radar system dedicated to detecting stealth targets. It is not a radar, but a radar array composed of 3 vehicle-mounted phased array radars of different bands. . In the circular scan mode, the radar system can reach a height of 300 kilometers and 600 kilometersIt can track 200 targets in the air within a degree range. In the sector scan mode, it can track 20 ballistic targets within a range of 1800 kilometers and a maximum range of 1200 kilometers. For a stealth target with a radar reflection cross-sectional area of 0.05 square meters, the discovery distance is about 100 to 200 kilometers.
S400 air defense system integrates the Nebo SVU active phased array meter wave radar, and has more means to deal with stealth fighters. Nebo SVU active phased array meter wave radar and 64N6E/91N6E passive phased array S-band radar are networked together to first determine the stealth nature of the incoming target. If the target has been detected by the meter wave radar, but the S-band radar is still unable to detect it at a short distance, the target can be regarded as a stealth target. At this time, the missile engagement procedure for stealth targets can be started: the surface-to-air missile will use a large arc trajectory to guide from the middle section of the target from above or from the side of the target with a larger RCS until it is within the range of the active radar of the missile itself. Approaching head-on as against conventional non-stealth targets, avoiding the smaller angle of RCS, enabling the missile to stably intercept and track, and ultimately destroy the stealth target.
91N6 works in the S-band, with a maximum detection distance of up to 600 kilometers, and can be used for air surveillance in a large range. It is the long-range air defense system such as S-300 and S-400 that achieves distance advantages Basic; 96L6-1 works in the C-band and is a full-height detection radar, which can replace the two different purpose radars of the early S-300, and gradually become the standard configuration of the S-300 and S-400. However, according to public information, the 96L6-1 full-height detection radar position was replaced by the new Podlet-K1 radar. Podlet-K1 is an S-band radar with a maximum detection range of up to 300 kilometers. It has been more thoroughly optimized for low-altitude detection. The lower limit of its elevation beam is said to be up to -7°, which is great for drones. Targets such as cruise missiles are very helpful.
To talk about the radar system in Syria, I have to mention our radar. In 2007, four fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force flew into Syria quietly, but the air defense system provided by Russia used by Syria was not discovered in this incident, so that Israel destroyed dozens of air defense radars, resulting in Syria’s equipment for Russia. The degree of trust has declined, so Syria has thrown an olive branch to the people.
In 2008, the Syrian authorities proposed the intention to purchase radars, including 5 JY-27, 1 JYL-1 and 4 120-type aerial detection radars, JY-27 It is a long-range surveillance radar, JYL-1 is a three-coordinate surveillance radar, and Type 120 is a 2D low-altitude blind compensation radar. JY-27 works in the VHF band, with a detection distance of 330 kilometers and a positioning accuracy of 150 meters. It can process 128 target information within 10 seconds and has certain anti-stealth capabilities; JYL-1 has all-weather air monitoring and provisioning Precise guidance data; Model 120 is mainly used for low-altitude target recognition.
JY-27 radar is an all-solid-state meter wave long-range surveillance radar. In 2014, the "Islamic State" militant group conquered Tabka Air Base in northern Syria. The JY-27 radar and other equipment of the base fell into the hands of extremists.
On January 23, 2019, according to news from social media, JY-27 anti-stealth long-range radar was bombed by the Israeli Air Force. This is a report from the ISI social media account. After an Israeli air strike, a JY-27 radar has fallen to the ground.
At the "Army"-2017 International Military Technology Forum, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Staff of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Sergey Mesheryakov Will state that based on Syria’s combat experience, the Russian army has united Russia and Syria in Syria.The two Syrian air defense forces established a "joint air defense system." The first is that the Russian army can use all Syria's air defense early warning systems; the second is that the "joint air defense system" can destroy all air targets within a range of 400 kilometers and 35 kilometers.
An integrated'joint air defense system' has now been established in Syria, indicating that'all' air information from the Syrian radar station will arrive at the Russian command post, so it must include Syria is using a Chinese-made radar system. It should not be difficult for the Russian military command post to use the information from the radar, mainly how to solve the problem of real-time transmission.
