The US will benefit from Russia’s Pantsir-S1E air defense system, obtained on the Libyan battlefield.
In June 2020, the British newspaper The Times reported on a secret mission that took place in June 2020, the US military delivered a Pantsir-S1E missile-artillery system (ZRPK) (version Export of Pantsir-S) Russian out of the Libyan battlefield.
A US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft landed at Zuwara International Airport, west of Tripoli, to receive the Pantsir-S1 system that the Army Government Agreement National Agreement (GNA) was obtained from the hands of the Libyan National Army (LNA).
The system was then sent to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Currently, the US-NATO is focusing on this system.
In June 2020, the Turkish-backed GNA force released a photo of a missile complex – a Pantsir-S1 low-range anti-aircraft gun using the LNA MAN SX45 8×8 wheeled cross-country vehicle chassis, were captured by them at the air base in the Tarkhuna area.
This is one of the systems that has been shipped to the LNA’s arsenal from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Their outstanding feature is the use of a German-made MAN SX 8×8 armored cross-country truck chassis.
In the photo, it can be seen that the Pantsir-S1 complex being transported by Government forces under the Libyan National Agreement was in damaged condition.
The complex has been shown many times at international exhibitions, but not many people have access to details of the system. According to The Times, the exported version of the Pantsir-S1E is quite famous in the world because it is supplied to different countries, including US-allied countries such as UAE, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya. ….
The UAE version of the Pantsir-S1 is an export variant that is more or slightly different from the type of Pantsir-S the Russian army is using, but even if it is a commercial variant, careful study of the name system Russian anti-aircraft fire could still provide the United States with useful data.
What can the US exploit from Pantsir-S1E?
According to Dmitry Kornev, the editor-in-chief of MilitaryRussia.ru, the clear benefit from research into Russia’s state-of-the-art export weapons cannot be ignored. American experts cannot thoroughly study such things at the show or even at the UAE ally’s base.
Receiving this system, Americans can disassemble non-collapsible blocks to study the level of technology, to the fabrication of assemblies and components; find its holes and then use them in battle.
Even a simple study of the materials used to make some parts, as well as the quality of their manufacture, would provide useful information on Russia’s current industrial-military capabilities.
Even if they cannot study Pantsir-S1E radar, they will study the secondary machine clusters, because when they are disabled, the device will not be able to function; for example heating or air conditioning systems, ”Kornev said in addition, knowing the technology and secrets about the radio frequency as well as the communication connection of the Pantsir-S1E on the battlefield will help Turkey come up with a very effective countermeasure against them. including the ability to copy technology.
On the other hand, Mr. Kornev believes that the Americans could share the Pantsir-S1E data with their NATO allies, such as Turkey, which has had a rather tense relationship with Russia in recent years. here.
In addition, if previously unknown vulnerabilities were found on the Pantsir-S1E, they could be brought in to damage the weapon’s image on the export market.