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Putin’s Missile Could Make U.S. Attacks on Iran Nearly Impossible
dailybeast ^ | 4/14/15 | Majumdar

Posted on 04/14/2015 6:53:14 AM PDT by pabianice

For years, Team Obama crowed about keeping this advanced Russian missile out of Iran’s hands. Now the Kremlin suddenly seems eager to hand it over to Tehran.

This nuke deal with Iran had better work. Because the Kremlin is lifting a ban on selling a powerful air defense system to Iran that would render an airstrike on Tehran’s nuclear weapons facilities nearly impossible.

The delivery of the new weapon, called the Almaz-Antei S-300PMU-1—known as the SA-20 Gargoyle in NATO parlance—would effectively force the U.S. to rely on its small fleet of stealth aircraft to strike targets inside Iran in case the mullahs make a dash for the bomb. But even those aircraft might have a difficult time.

“This would be a huge deal depending on where they [the S-300s] are based…The Persian Gulf would be an interesting place to fly,” said one senior defense official with experience on multiple stealth aircraft types. “These new [surface-to-air missiles] change the whole complexion…It’s a big move.”

According to a report from Russian state media, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday that would allow the sale of the fearsome S-300 air defense system to Iran.

“[The presidential] decree lifts the ban on transit through Russian territory, including airlift, and the export from the Russian Federation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also the transfer to the Islamic Republic of Iran outside the territory of the Russian Federation, both by sea and by air, of air defense missile systems S-300,” reads the Kremlin statement, according to RIA Novosti.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
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To: pabianice

The sale was probably Obama Admin’s idea anyway


21 posted on 04/14/2015 8:05:23 AM PDT by molson209 (Blank)
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To: AppyPappy

>>Uhhh....no. You just blow it up first<<

Right? We still have the most advanced weaponry in the world.

Could it cause headaches for us? Yep, but I suspect just like any other air attack, we go after command and control, radar installations and clear a path.


22 posted on 04/14/2015 8:10:09 AM PDT by servantboy777
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To: pabianice

People who understand nothing about war or military conflict sound extra stupid when speculating on things that armies “cannot do”.


23 posted on 04/14/2015 8:16:09 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: ChiefJayStrongbow; All
Yeah..."Thor", is the answer.
i'd be surprised, IF some were placed
w/ Iran's name on them.

24 posted on 04/14/2015 9:13:28 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass ("Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." Hedy Lamarr)
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To: pabianice
This isn't the 80's. Nobody will be flying anything in that's manned. And the way to counter a system such as the S-300 is by flooding the zone with cheap drones. You can't fight a swarm of bees with a shotgun.

And a word of real-world caution: beware of gift weapons systems from the Soviets - I mean the Russians - because the phrase "monkey model" meant something back in the day.

25 posted on 04/14/2015 9:20:53 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: pabianice; ThunderSleeps
Just because you have them in your national inventory doesn't mean you can effectively use them.

The other question is do you put them around your High Value Targets (nukes) and confirm that is where they are or do you put some around your HVTs and others around other sites as decoys?

ThunderSleeps' comments above are spot on. Take out the Air Defense and the rest becomes a lot easier.

If you are going to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, you may as well go ahead and take out their political and military leadership. In for a penny, in for a pound.

"Ceterum censeo 0bama esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

26 posted on 04/14/2015 9:23:40 AM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: pabianice
"Nearly Impossible.." without losses, perhaps.
27 posted on 04/14/2015 9:43:19 AM PDT by Dilbert56
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

It would make such an attack by air costly but not impossible—If we used nukes delivered from Sub launched rockets—they would be valueless.


28 posted on 04/14/2015 9:55:54 AM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll Onward! Ride to the sound of the guns!)
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Not if smart artillery takes out the S300 sites first. Special forces on the ground can “take care of business” locally electronically as well as with brute force in many varied ways. There is other “stuff” we need not worry much if it comes down to it.


29 posted on 04/14/2015 10:27:30 AM PDT by USCG SimTech (Honored to serve since '71)
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To: pabianice

You might have to take a B-52 and go nap of the Earth and/or “on the deck.” I’ve seem films of a B-52 flying nap of the Earth in the mountains of West Virginia, very impressive handling if you ask me. Otherwise, we might have to dodge those SAMS much like we had to with the SA-2 over Hanoi and Haiphong.


30 posted on 04/14/2015 2:05:44 PM PDT by Nowhere Man (Mom I miss you! (8-20-1938 to 11-18-2013) Cancer sucks)
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To: pabianice

How well does an S-300 “shoot down” a 1,000lbs iron rod falling from orbit?


31 posted on 04/14/2015 2:36:13 PM PDT by jpsb (Believe nothing until it has been officially denied)
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