Russian Minister of Defense: Russia controls the situation in Syria with the help of drones
The Russian Armed Forces are controlling the situation in Syria by using drones, as stated by Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu during a press conference at the National Defense Management Center of Russia. The transcript was published on the Ministry's website.
"Thanks to unmanned aircraft, we have complete control over the whole Syrian territory," Shoygu said.
According to him, since the beginning of 2018 militants began to "widely use" unmanned aerial vehicles against Russian facilities in Syria. To combat this, the military created a system that includes reconnaissance and surveillance systems and anti-aircraft and electronic warfare means. "I want to emphasize that practically all the weapons and military equipment that were tested during the operation showed reliable operation," Shoygu said.
He also said that during the operation in Syria, Russian aviation carried out 34,561 flights. The Minister of Defense noted the effectiveness of Tu-22M3 and Su-24M long-range bombers as well as Su-34 and Su-35S aircraft. "Their modern targeting systems allowed pinpoint attacks against militant targets," Shoygu said. Also, according to the Minister, the ships and submarines of the Russian Navy conducted 100 attacks with Kalibr cruise missiles against terrorists in Syria.
On January 20th, Shoygu indicated the long-range drones used by Syrian militants were "a serious threat." On the evening of January 6th, terrorists attempted to attack the Russian Khemeymim airbase in Syria with the help of drones. The Russian military managed to repel the attack.