[Every Point new defense (1584 issue) March 18]: On March 17, there were two pieces of news that were more "explosive": NATO member Slovakia had initially agreed to provide Ukraine with its own S-300 air defense system, and the United States would provide it with "Patriot" air defense as compensation; on the same day, Russia issued a war report saying that it had destroyed 11 Ukrainian air defense missile systems, including an S-300 division. Since Russia launched a special military operation, the Russian military has eliminated a total of 170 anti-aircraft missile systems in the Ukrainian military – so NATO's military assistance to Ukraine has shifted from providing MiG-29 fighter jets and shorter-range portable anti-aircraft missiles to seeking the S-300 with a longer range and better performance.
On the same day, from two different camps, there was news about the "S-300", which is not the latest anti-aircraft missile system, on the one hand, it shows that the Air Defense Network of the Ukrainian Military has indeed been destroyed by the Russian army, after all, before the war, ukraine inherited S-300 from the Soviet Union had a total of S-300PT, S-300PS, S-300V models, but due to The economic problems in Ukraine, many S-300s were actively retired and sealed. It is said that only 40% of the remaining S-300 of the Ukrainian army can be used before 2014, and in 2014, with the loss of Crimea, the 34 sets of S-300 launchers of the Ukrainian army in the area also "changed hands". Therefore, before the start of the war, the number of S-300 of the Ukrainian army was not very large, coupled with the key blows of the Russian army to the air defense system of the Ukrainian army in order to seize air supremacy, resulting in the current S-300 of the Ukrainian army has few left.
The S-300 first served in the Soviet army in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the S-300 was considered one of the most sophisticated air defense systems in the Soviet arsenal. The Soviet Union had exported the system to several allies in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany. Beginning in the 1990s, the system was also sold to a range of countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as Greece and Venezuela. Within NATO, the system is currently being equipped by Bulgaria, Greece and Slovakia. The S-300 in East Germany was returned to the Soviet Union before it was annexed by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990. Ukraine inherited about 250 S-300 launchers from the Soviet Union, but by the early 2010s only six had undergone overhauls, and another launch unit was repaired in 2012. The Russian military currently reports the destruction of at least 18 Ukrainian S-300 radar systems and a complete set of S-300 integrated air defense systems in ongoing military operations. On Wednesday, Ukraine's defense ministry said 137 Ukrainian air defense systems — including the S-125, S-300 and Buk-M1 — were destroyed in Russian attacks, and that these losses, said to account for more than 90 percent of Ukraine's air defense capabilities.
Because of this, because the Ukrainian military's S-300 is a Soviet "legacy" and its service age is very early, almost all of them are early S-300 models. From the "S-300 development map", it can also be seen that the S-300PT, S-300PS, and S-300V owned by the Ukrainian army can be said to be the first generation or a small version of the S-300 model, which is already very "ancient". The S-300 system that Slovakia will aid to Ukraine this time is the more advanced S-300PMU type, which has the characteristics of multi-target processing and engagement, as well as the interception capability of low-altitude targets (such as cruise missiles) and tactical ballistic missiles with small radar reflection cross-sectional targets. It can be said that the S-300PMU type has been a best-selling product in the international arms market since its birth, and the subsequent upgraded extended range S-300PMU-1 and S-300PMU-2 are even more outstanding in performance, and are still the heavy weapons used by the big countries for the Gongwei Jingshi.
So why does Slovakia, which has such a powerful S-300PMU anti-aircraft missile system, suddenly want to give it to Ukraine? In fact, Slovakia, as a NATO member equipped with a lot of Russian weapons and equipment, has also had a hard time when the United States has been sanctioning Russia. Because the parts that Slovakia wants to purchase from Russia in order to maintain the S-300PMU are on the sanctions list, Slovakia can only watch its S-300PMU gradually age for many years and cannot be upgraded, and the life cycle will also end in 2020; and these S-300PMU air defense systems cannot access nato systems, which makes Slovakia unable to obtain the protection of NATO's advanced air defense system network.
Therefore, Slovakia's announcement at this time to assist its own S-300 PMU to Ukraine, which is looking for S-300 air defense systems around the world, is undoubtedly a "win-win" choice. After all, after sending away this obsolete weapon system that cannot be upgraded, has reached the end-of-life cycle, and cannot be integrated into the NATO system, the United States has promised to provide it with a US-made "Patriot" air defense missile system that is fully compatible with the NATO system; and Ukraine will also obtain its own familiar, ready-to-use, and more advanced than its original S-300PMU air defense missile system, which will undoubtedly be very satisfied.
So will the Slovak aid to Ukraine's S-300 PMU have an impact on the Russians' subsequent operations? In fact, although the S-300PMU is relatively old, with the S-300's previous actual combat performance, it can make no one despise it. Although the Russian military is certainly more familiar with this air defense system, this does not mean that Russian fighters can avoid its missile strikes. But after all, the S-300PMU is relatively old, and now the Russian military's electronic warfare capabilities have the ability to suppress it and even destroy it with anti-radiation missiles. That is to say, as long as the Russian army is steady and steady, and does not lightly attack the enemy, the S-300PMU will not become the "Optimus Prime" of the Ukrainian army!