Russia knew from the outset that NATO’s air and space surveillance systems were able to control the full activity of Russian military aircraft based in Syria. Thanks to the RC135 American reconnaissance aircraft, the British Sentinel R1 planes, the AWACS radar aircraft and the Predator unmanned observation aircraft, deployed on Syria’s borders, it is possible to intercept: radio traffic on Russian networks, the number and type of aircraft, flight paths, the type of weapon used, targets targeted at rebels and their location. Especially since most rebel groups in Syria are armed and supported by the United States and can be warned in time for each operation.
The media gave a lengthy presentation of the types of Russian bombers operating in Syria, the weapons they are equipped with and use for air strikes and the results of these strikes. The most sophisticated, “secret weapon” with which the Russians have imposed their supremacy in the field of electronic warfare (EW-Electronic warfare), remains surrounded by mystery. The formidable Russian system of information gathering and processing also remains shrouded in mystery. These two categories of weapons constitute the automated complex C4I (command, control, communication, computers, information and interoperability) that the Russians created in Syria. It allows the identification of bombing targets and their distribution among the different types of aircraft, while preventing NATO from discovering anything of the modus operandi of the Russians. In the absence of a minimum of information, NATO can not launch effective electronic countermeasures (ECM) against Russians in Syria.
Russia’s ground, naval and air-based electronic warfare capabilities in the theater of Syria’s military operations allow the entire electromagnetic spectrum to be monitored to locate and confuse enemy transmitters. Electronic warfare today extends to the cell phone jammer of communications, radar and electro-optical surveillance. Modern countermeasure devices, including in the visible, infrared or laser spectrum, use airborne and space electro-optical surveillance (IMINT) devices to thwart Russians in the annihilation of IS. To protect the device from NATO’s search capabilities, the Russians deployed several Krasukha-4s in Syria. The Russian Su-24, Su-25, Su-34 aircraft are equipped with the SAP-518 / SPS-171 jamming container, and the Mi-8AMTSh helicopters with Richag-AV. Added to this is the ship Priazovye (Vishnya class), belonging to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, near the Syrian coast. This vessel specializes in jamming and collecting SIGINT and COMINT information (interception of all communications networks).