The Guided Missile Fight over Syria: Eastern Mediterranean Disposition of Forces

Listening to the news one would think the United States and its allies are set on an irreversible course towards war in the Eastern Mediterranean and that the war to come will be a guided missile fight with the US and its allies having the upper hand. The outcome in any conflict is never guaranteed, but this didn’t prevent the news media from making predictable comparisons with Iraq circa 1991 and 2003.

The Syrian situation is very different, Lavrov’s statement on not wanting to be drawn in to war over Syria notwithstanding. When it comes to guided missiles, the Russians, Chinese, Iranians, and North Koreans build them cheaper and in some cases better than the Americans can. Let us not forget that the great British Navy with its glorious and storied past was under constant threat from the Argentine Navy’s French-made Exocet anti-ship missiles during the Falklands campaign in 1982. The missiles, that could be launched from ships, aircraft or coastal positions, sunk at least one ship, HMS Sheffield, and damaged others.

There are several types of missile that can be launched from ships or coastal positions; they include anti-ship, anti-submarine and anti-aircraft missiles. The US Tomahawk is a strategic land strike missile that many suggest would be used against Syrian military, strategic and command and control targets. Flying at sub-sonic speed this cruise missile can be shot down by anti-aircraft weapons. The Syrians have a trump card of their own, the P-800 Oniks anti-ship missile with a 300 kilometer range and a 300 kilogram warhead. Most vulnerable would be ships within the operational range radius of the missile which can in theory strike a target as far away as off the coast of western Cyprus.

For many watching the news it would be hard to get a clear picture of the exact disposition of forces that will presumably be set against one another if a conflict breaks out. Below is a rough estimation of the forces at play (or soon will be at play) in the Eastern Med., both at sea and along the Syrian coast:

THE RUSSIANS

The Black Sea Fleet is the closest Russian naval force to the theatre of engagement. Some or several of its assets could, if Russia so desired, be moved in to keep US naval vessels at bay. The fleet’s primary seagoing assets include two Krivak class guided missile frigates (FF), a Kashin class guided missile destroyer (DDG), a Kara class anti-submarine warfare cruiser (CG), plus the Slava class guided missile cruiser Moskva which alone carries 16 P 500 Bazalt surface to surface anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles.

The Russian Navy in January stationed five heavy landing ships in the Eastern Mediterranean along with the Frigate Yaroslav Mudry, the guided missile destroyer Smetlivy from the Russian Baltic Fleet, the destroyer Severomorsk from the Pacific Fleet and the Moskva. In addition to Tartus the navy also uses port facilities in Cyprus, although to date all their attempts to create a permanent Mediterranean task force have not born fruit. Regardless, several Russian capital ships have been regular visitors to the Eastern Med. over the past years, including Russia's only aircraft carrier and several missile cruisers.

The remaining 25 surface ships of the Black Sea Fleet include five anti-submarine corvettes, four Grisha class and one Mukha class corvettes, as well as four seagoing Natya I minesweepers, four small guided missile boats, two Dergach class and two Nanuchka-III class corvettes, in addition to five Tarantul-III class and one Matka class missile boats. The fleet’s coastal defense division includes six surface ships, two Grisha-III class ASW ships, two minesweepers, one Groya class and one Nataya-I class, as well as two Sonya class base minesweepers. The fleet also has two diesel powered attack submarines.

THE AMERICANS

The US Sixth Fleet, established in 1950, is the successor of the World War II-era Sixth Task Fleet and is based in the Mediterranean from where it has been involved in combat operations against Libya, Iraq and Serbia. It is the largest fighting force in NATO’s southern command and has, at any one time, consisted of up to 40 ships.

The fleet is organized into task forces: Task Force 502 (Carrier Forces, effectively Task Force 60), Task Force 503 (Amphibious Forces), Task Force 504 (Landing Forces), Task Force 505 (Logistics Forces), and Task Force 506 (Special Operations Forces).

Task Force 60 is the fleet’s battle force that includes one or more aircraft carriers; each carrier is accompanied by a force of two to six cruisers and destroyers. Each carrier has up to 85 aircraft aboard. The fleet’s command ship is the USS Mount Whitney. The US pulled two carriers away from Syrian shores in December 2012, the nuclear powered USS Eisenhower and the USS Iwo Jima which carries 2,500 marines on board. Russia Today said the ships were allegedly preparing for an invasion.

Deployed currently under the Sixth Fleet are Four Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers (DDGs) the USS Mahan, named after naval theorist on sea power Alfred Thayer Mahan, the USS Gravely, the USS Barry, named after Commodore John Barry, the ‘Father of the American Navy’, and the USS Ramage, named after a World War II submarine commander.

This class of destroyer is a multi-role warship equipped with the powerful Aegis Radar and capable of carrying out strategic land strikes with its ship launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, it also has an anti-air strike capability, anti-submarine warfare capability and it can launch Harpoon anti-ship missiles to engage surface targets as well.

THE SYRIANS

The Syrian armed forces’ navy has the supersonic long-range anti-ship P-800 Oniks missile system, also known in export markets as the Yakhont, NATO reporting name SS-N-26. It carries a 300kg warhead and has an operational range of 300 kilometers. Syria received delivery of 72 missiles.

The Syrian navy has two Petya class anti-submarine warfare frigates, eight Osa I and 12 Osa II missile boats capable of launching four SS-N-2 anti-ship missiles each, as well as ten Tir II missile boats, locally produced copies of North Korean made missile boats. In addition the navy has 14 patrol craft, three amphibious warfare vessels, seven mine warfare vessels and 21 helicopters as well as several types of coastal defense missile systems.

It is worth noting that the Osa’s predecessor, the Komar class missile boat was the first to sink a warship with a guided missile: the Israeli ship Eilat. The Eilat was sunk a few months after the end of the 1967 Six-day war by several Egyptian Komar class missile boats.

DINKY TOYS

It’s easy to dismiss what some see as the dinky-toy-like corvettes and missile boats of the smaller navies of the world, but in today’s world it’s the smaller, faster, more maneuverable naval forces that have the advantage over the lumbering capital ships of the line. The Osa (Wasp in English) is called that for a reason, it does not need big guns as long as it has big sticks with rocket engines, inertial guidance system and a whopping great big warhead at the end of it! This is the age of the guided missile, gone are the days of the dueling 16-inch guns of Jutland fame. The side with the better missile and the better missile counter measures will have the upper hand.