In yet another sign that the Russians are looking to stir the pot in the Middle East, they’ve decided to sell P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria. The sale is worth at least $300 million and will have the Russians delivering around 72 cruise missiles to the Syrians.
The Yakhont is an advanced supersonic, long range, anti-ship missile that features its own high tech inertial navigation system to reach the target area. The Yakhont can be used at extremely low altitudes and is able to fly between 5 and 15 meters like a sea-skimming missile. Aside from reducing its radar footprint, the low altitude mode increases the element of surprise and minimizes reaction time against the incoming missile. Of course, it can also be used against land-based targets.
The above map shows the potential range of P800 Yakhont missiles fired from Syrian bases like Tartus or land sites in Southern Syria and Lebanon.
For Israel, the P800 puts its naval vessels at risk, at their main base in Haifa or at Israel’s second naval base in Ashdod. This has implications not only for Israel but for US ships in the area, since the Yakhont was designed to defeat ships protected by the US AEGIS weapon system and similar European systems.
Since Israel and Syria remain technically at war, the Israelis perceive this as a hostile act – especially since there’s nothing to stop Syrian dictator Basher Assad from handing the missiles off to Hezbollah.Or for that matter to Iran, as a nifty way around sanctions that the Russians have used before. It’s pretty easy to picture the Iranians using the Yakhont missiles against US ships in the Gulf.
Of course, that’s what’s been wrong all along with the farcical US attempts to ‘engage’ with Syria. They are not only a conduit to Hezbollah, but to Iran.
The Russians of course are discounting this, and Russia’s defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov took the same stance that Russia did over supplying fuel to Iran’s Bushehr reactor…don’t worry, be happy.
The US and Israel ask us not to supply Syria with Yakhont,” he was quoted as saying on Friday. “But we do not see the concerns expressed by them, that these arms will fall into the hands of terrorists.
Ri-ight.