Ilya Vedmedenko18:15, 25.10.24

The purchase of Russian weapons threatens the country with American sanctions.

Riyadh will purchase Russian anti-aircraft missile and gun systems (ZRPK) “Pantsir”. Defense Express experts looked into the situation and came to the conclusion that this is indeed the case.

The official source of this news is the Saudi government magazine “Air Defense”, which says that the troops are planning to be reinforced with new air defense systems.

In addition to the Russian complex, the Chinese anti-drone system Silent Hunter and the American THAAD missile defense system are mentioned among them.

Saudi Arabia’s purchase of the Pantsir system could trigger US sanctions under the CAATSA law, which previously led to Turkey being “kicked out” of the F-35 fighter program for purchasing Russian S-400 air defense systems.

However, Defense Express emphasizes the inconsistency demonstrated by the Americans. “Delhi did not have anything to do with India’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system for $5.4 billion in 2018,” the military-technical portal writes. At that time, this was explained by the fact that India acts as a counterweight to China, with which the United States has rather complicated relations.

According to Defense Express, in the situation with the Pantsir, it is even less worth expecting a reaction from Washington. After all, Riyadh is an opponent of the Iranian regime, which is also in conflict with the United States.

ZRGK “Pantsir” – the main thing

In May, aviation expert Konstantin Krivolap said that the Pantsir-S1 cannot destroy Ukrainian drones because it does not “see” them. This allows Ukrainian UAVs to find “loopholes” in Russian air defenses.

However, Moscow is actively modernizing its air defense systems. In August, UNIAN reported that the Russians had created a new version of the Pantsir air defense missile system. It received a combat module without automatic guns, which has two types of transport and launch containers.

(C)UNIAN 2024