The complicated Syrian War has served as an evolving platform for weapons and tactics.
On the Damascus side, the blood spilt has been almost exclusively that of Syrian patriots in their multicultural secular nation's army, the SAA (Syrian Arab Army). The SAA has lost easily more than 100,000 soldiers, and continues to bleed, perhaps the most heroic example of any army in recent times. To this we must add the many civilians caught in the maw of war (their huge number assured by the sociopathic ferocity of the Jihadists enabled by Washington, Israel, Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf despots), and, in lesser but still significant degree, the casualties suffered by Hezbollah, the Iranian forces, and some Russian personnel, all offering their lives to thwart Washington's and NATO's criminal designs for the Middle East and beyond. On the anti-Assad side, the losses comprise many fanatics serving with ISIS, al-Qaeda and a rather bewildering array of similar formations, especially after Russia's entry into the war in 2015, and her prompt introduction of an effective air force component, and much improved field tactics. Russia's role in the conflict permitted the Syrian army to slowly regain the offensive after suffering enormous losses in equipment and personnel due to its inability to neutralise the Jihadists' sheer numbers, depraved ferocity, and wealth of armaments and cover facilitated by the West, said supplies funneled chiefly through a hypocritically collaborating Turkey. The arming of these jackals by the Saudi despots and the US and NATO leaders including Turkey's Erdogan, should put them all before a Nuremberg tribunal, should such a true justice court ever come to exist again, which I doubt, considering where we are. But to recapitulate: At the very outset, in the period between 2012 and 2015, Damascus counted with a rather large but aging inventory of tanks (some estimate it at close to 5,000), mostly older-design Soviet vintage machines that quickly became casualties in the field as a result of the takfiris' adoption of CIA-supplied TOWs (anti-tank guided missile launchers). For a while at least, the fate of most tanks was one of quick disintegration in the battlefield, with consequent demoralisation among the Syrian forces. Yet, as the article below suggests, such painful setbacks prompted a rethinking, and now tanks, although in the process of being phased out of modern war with the arrival of newer technologies and tactics, may be staging a temporary comeback. Incidentally, the article below was published on Defense Update, a respected military analysis Israeli blog, so whatever it says in praise of Damascus and Russia's capabilities, can be taken to the bank. Unless they are dickying around with us, which is always possible. One last caveat: This piece was first published in 2017, so other developments may have blunted or deepened the insights offered by the author.—PG
Home Grown Syrian Soft Kill System Successfully Defeated TOW Missiles
By Tamir Eshel, Defense Update
First published on Mar 1, 2017
![](https://www.greanvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DefUpdate-2-Sarab-1_85mm_gun_725-600x301.jpg)
Sarab countermeasure systems were rapidly fielded with large numbers of combat systems, to defeat long-range guided missile attacks. The system is seen here mounted on a 85mm gun.
Syrian Army, supported by Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Russian air and ground forces, regained a significant foothold in areas previously dominated by Syrian opposition and ISIS. The loss rate of its armor has also diminished, not because of a shortage of rebel weapons. The Syrians claim that the deployment of new countermeasures locally developed by the Syrian Scientific Research Center (SSRC) dramatically reduced the vulnerability of their armor to rebel guided missiles attacks. This article tracks the evolution of these systems and outlines the progress, based on combat experience gained by the Syrians.
IR (infrared) countermeasure technologies are available from multiple sources, both in the East and West, but none were accessible to Syria. The SHTORA, an integrated defensive system designed for the T-90 could not easily adapt to the T-72, T-62 and T-55s. To address the threat the SSRC developed an Infrared jammer designed to disrupt the optical command line used by 2nd generation Semi-Active Command to Line Of Sight (SACLOS) guided missiles such as the Konkurs, Metis and Tow.
![](https://www.greanvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DefUpdate3-syrian_t72_with_sarab-2_aps_725-600x300.jpg)
Sarab-2 seen here on a Syrian T-72 was fielded toward the end of 2016 was a more advanced version of the Sarab-1 that was deployed in the first months of the year
The system is a light source that mimics the signal emitted by the flare positioned at the missile’s tail, feeding false positional information to the command system’s sensor, thus causing the missile to miss its target. The Israeli army first introduced this principle in Lebanon in the 1990s. It was later and adopted by the Russian army with the SHTORA system developed for the T-90. However, lacking specific data on the threat missiles, the required more testing with real missiles to turn their technology demonstrator into a combat worthy protection system.
Syrian Army…) These missiles helped SSRC to modify and test the system, and deploy the first batch of operational systems designated Sarab-1 (Mirage) in early 2016. (These systems were spotted on T-62s and gun carrying pickup trucks near Latakia). These systems used powerful Infrared LED lights and magnifying lenses that demonstrated 80% effectiveness against various SACLOS missiles. The entire system included multiple emitters covering the frontal arc. Connected to the vehicle’s battery the system could maintain continuous operation for about six hours.
LEFT: Sarab-3 provides a soft kill systemwith 360 degree coverage, stacked IR light sources and possibly laser diodes producing more advanced deception patterns.
Syrian Army (FSA) TOWs. In fact, the Syrian sources say that in the later stages of that battle TOWs were directed exclusively against infantry and other infrastructures since the targets protected by Sarab were immune to these threats.
Following the successful fielding of Sarab-2 the SSRC developed a new version of the system, utilizing additional emitters (possibly laser sources) to establish more efficient ‘soft kill’ active protection for tanks. Unlike Sarab-1 and 2, the Sarab-3 has a full 360-degree coverage.
While the wide publicity the system received could be motivated by the need to boost
morale among the Syrian soldiers, defense analysts should be aware of the development and consider the proliferation of such technology, in defeating 2nd generation guided missiles with third world countries and insurgent groups.
![](https://www.greanvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DefUpdate5-Sarab-2-T721_725-600x345.jpg)
A close-up view of the Sarab-2 system, using stacked IR light diodes and wearing a protective shroud.
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