How the Syrian Civil War Made the Russian Air Force Even Deadlier

Practice makes perfect, and the Russian air force has gotten a lot of practice striking Syrian rebels.

The Russian Air Force has learned valuable lessons during the recent campaign in Syria, according to a former senior Russian air commander.

In fact, Russian air operations in support of the Syrian government gave the Russian Air Force a chance to test the effectiveness of reforms made over the last few years, according to Colonel General Viktor Bondarev, former commander of Russian Aerospace Forces, and now chairman of the defense and security committee of the Federation Council of Parliament.

Bondarev’s analysis was part of a multi-volume study of airpower by the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Russian defense think tank. In a blog for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, defense expert Douglas Barrie analyzed Bondarev’s account.

“The campaign gave Russia's Aerospace Forces their first experience of modern offensive air operations by various air units, and in conjunction with other nations' ground forces,” Bondarev wrote. He also argues that “one of the main prerequisites for success in Syria” was the introduction of new and upgraded combat aircraft, a need that was “pressing, since the air force had received practically no new equipment in the 20 years since the early 1990s.”

Bondarev says the Russian air campaign featured widespread use of precision-guided munitions (PGM), such as GPS-guided munitions. But as Barrie points out, “although the KAB-500S satellite-guided bomb has been used in Syria, the air force continued also to rely on free-fall iron bombs. A small number of mature air-to-surface missile systems such as the Kh-29 (AS-14 Kedge) and Kh-25M (AS-10 Karen) have also been used.”

Barrie also notes that “the Syrian operation should have provided an opportunity to operationally test the Kh-38 medium-range tactical air-to-surface missile. The Kh-38 family is intended to replace the Kh-29 and Kh-25. So far, however, no imagery of the weapon being employed in Syria has emerged, while Russian sources have made contradictory claims as to whether it has or has not been used during the campaign. The Kh-38ML semi-active laser-guided variant of the missile family is thought to have completed development testing in 2017.”