Syrian S-200 downs F-16I: The price of contempt?

The incident of Syrian air defense shooting down Israel's pride - F-16I on February 10 shocked the Middle East. Because, up to now, F-16I has always considered Syria's air defense system as just a "torn net".

The F-16I is designed with Israeli technology, integrating many superior features such as a windshield display, satellite communications, navigation equipment and Litening II target designation.

F-16I weapons include Python 5 short-range air-to-air missiles, laser-guided bombs and JDAM satellite-guided bombs.

In early 2017, Israeli leaders ordered a group of F-16I fighter jets of the air force to launch an attack on the strategic T4 (Tiyas) air base, located 60-80km west of the ancient city of Palmyra.

Israeli officials called the attack "hitting several birds with one stone." The comparison shows how confident Israel is in its F-16I fighter jets.

For the past 10 years, the Israeli Air Force has been operating in the skies over Syria as if it were a deserted place. However, the events of February 10 have made Tel Aviv rethink.

What helped Syria take down Israel's divine F-16I? Perhaps only Moscow can give the most accurate answer to the transformation of Syria's air defense force.

In 2016, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Syria's longest-range S-200 air defense missile system had been refurbished and had begun contributing to the anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) network in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Before the S-400, the S-200 was the world's longest-range air defense missile, far surpassing even the S-300.

The S-200 missile has a range of up to 240 km with an operational altitude of up to 40 km, a speed of up to 2,500 m/s, and a target destruction probability of about 85%.

The version used by the Syrian Army is believed to be the S-200VE Vega E equipped with 5V28E missiles. The 5V28E version is equipped with 4 solid-fuel boosters mounted along the missile body and a main engine located in the center of the body using liquid fuel.

When fired, the 4 auxiliary rocket engines will start first to take the missile off the launch pad, burn out the fuel (from 3-5.1 seconds) it will automatically separate from the missile body. Then, the main engine is activated to send the missile flying to the target (burning time 51-150 seconds.

Each missile is equipped with a 217kg fragmentation warhead (containing 16,000 2g fragments and 21,000 3.5g fragments) for a very large radius of damage.

The missile's fire control radar has a target tracking range of 270km, the P-14/5N84A early warning radar has a target detection range of up to 600km, beyond the detection range of NATO command/early warning aircraft.

There is an undeniable truth that, after being upgraded, the S-200 is an air defense missile system that is powerful enough to take down the pride of the Israeli air force - the F-16.

That's not counting the fact that the Syrian air defense system shares data from early warning aircraft or Russia's S-400 air defense radar.

In air defense operations, detecting attacking aircraft is the most important factor, so even though the S-400 systems were silent, the radar data transferred by Russia to the Syrian air defense was enough to help the S-200 shoot down Israeli F-16s.