MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/: The Russian Pantsir-S air defense missile system took down some 100 drones around the world over the course of its service, says Valery Slugin - the chief air defense designer KBP JSC, a division of Rostec’s High Precision Weapons JSC.
"About one hundred, maybe more," Slugin said in interview for TASS. "That includes Syria and other regions."
Slugin reminded that there are two Pantsir divisions deployed in Syria: the Russian one, located at Hmeimim airbase, and a Syrian one.
He admitted that jury-rigged terrorist drones repeatedly used to attack the Hmeimim base gave the system some trouble.
"Initially, the terrorists tied up to 10 bombs to their drones, which made them perfectly visible on a radar. Later, they reduced the ordnance number to just two, and significantly reduced the drone’s speed. We had to apply some effort to teach the systems how to take down such targets," the designer said.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the last attempt to attack Hmeimim base with drones happened on January 19. All aerial targets were destroyed at a safe distance from the Russian base.
Pantsir-S system is designed for close-range air protection of civilian and military objects, around the clock, in any weather and radio-electronic environment. The system is armed with 12 guided missiles and two 30mm autocannons.
