Russian President Vladimir Putin declared in an address to his country’s Federal Assembly that Moscow’s ongoing operations in Syria had shown to the international community Russia’s increased capabilities in the defense sector. “The operation in Syria has showed the increased capabilities of the Russian military. Over the last several years a great job on strengthening the army and the fleet has been done.” / The whole country and the entire world now know the names of our newest planes, submarines, air defense systems, sea-, air- and land- based missile systems. All that is the newest, modern high-tech weapons,” Putin Said.
The comments by the Russian leader came right after his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed reports, in which two Russian fifth generation Su-57 fighter jets were carrying out two-day combat testing missions in Syria. A senior defense analyst explained to TV7 that the rare appearance of the advanced Russian fighter jets, which were initially verified based on Israeli satellite images, aimed at testing its radar systems and electronic warfare against Western technology that is being used in the war-torn-country. The Su-57 is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics and an active airborne phased array radar which allows the plane to effectively destroy air, ground and naval targets with minimized chances of getting detected. The Israeli defense analyst further noted that Russia has sent dozens of its most advanced weapon-systems to Syria, to simulate their technological advantages under combat conditions, and to assess and learn from trial operations taking place in close proximity to advanced military hardware of Western powers. While Israel has not officially reacted to the deployment of the SU-57 in Syria, a senior official told TV7 that the aircraft’s presence also signaled to Jerusalem and others U.S. allies that Russia had the advanced military hardware to assert its strategic-interests in Syria, which also includes its S-400 surface-to-air missile systems that have a technological advantage on most aircrafts operating in the region. The official further assessed a possible link between Moscow’s decision to deploy its advanced fighter-jets into Syria and the incident that took place a little over a week earlier, in which Russian-made surface-to-air missiles have managed to down an American-made Israeli F16i fighter-jet that participated in an offensive mission against Iranian targets adjacent to the Syrian T4 Airbase in Palmyra, where Russian troops are also stationed.