US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged the fact that Patriot's US anti-aircraft missile systems failed to repel drones' attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities located in Saudi Arabia. The head of the State Department made such a statement during a working trip to Jeddah, where he met with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
“Listen, air defense systems around the world always work with varying degrees of success. Even some of the world's best designs do not always stop the threat. We strive to use the infrastructure and resources in such a way that such attacks are less successful than, apparently, this was, ”he said.
At the same time, commenting on the attack itself, the Secretary of State again blamed Iran for it. According to him, the statement about the involvement in the attack of the Hussite rebels from Yemen was "fraudulent."
“This was not the Hussites. Let's start with this, and I will definitely return to this issue. But this does not change the essence of the matter. The attack was made by Iran. This is not the case when you can entrust someone to destroy (infrastructure providing. - RT ) 5% of the world's energy supply, and assume that you will be able to evade responsibility. I want to clarify from the very beginning. If the Hussites’s false statement were true - it’s not so, but if it were so - the signs still indicate that it was Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. - RT ) that threatened global energy supply, ”he said.
Recall that Iran refutes its involvement in the attacks. On September 18, Tehran sent a diplomatic note to Washington. And the materials provided by Saudi Arabia, which supposedly should confirm the involvement of the Islamic republic in the attack, are not enough for the charges, said Iranian Presidential Advisor Hesameddin Ashen on his Twitter.
“The press conference proved that Saudi Arabia knows nothing about where rockets and drones were launched from. They also failed to explain why their defensive systems could not repel the attack, ”TASS quoted him as saying.
نشست خبری سخنگوی دفاعی سعودی یک فاجعه رسانهای برای این کشور است.
با قاطعیت ثابت کرد که نمی تواند ثابتکند یا نمیداند ؛
۱. کروز و پهپادها دقیقا ساخت کجاست.
۲. از چه منطقه و نقطهای شلیک شدهاست.
۳. چرا پدافند هوایی نتوانسته حمله را خنثی کند.
“Bad bet”
Recall that on the night of September 14, unidentified drones attacked two enterprises of the state-owned company of Saudi Arabia Saudi Aramco, after which fires broke out at the refinery. The world's largest oil refinery Abkaik and the second largest Saudi oil field in the Khurais region were attacked.
Soon, the fighting wing of the Ansar Allah movement of Yemeni Hussite rebels, who had been fighting against forces of several Arab countries since 2015, claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to Al Massira, the rebels launched 10 drones and promised to continue to attack.
Ansar Allah’s spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saria, later stated that their weapons target dozens of targets in the UAE, “including Abu Dhabi and Dubai.”
“We are telling the emirate’s regime: just one operation (against the Hussites. - RT ) will cost you dearly and you will regret it ... We urge you to take our warnings as seriously as never before,” Al Massira quotes him.
Saria also drew attention to the fact that the American anti-aircraft systems can not cope with the attacks of the Hussites.
“Betting on American and European weapons is a bad bet, because you can’t even confront our planes or shoot them down,” he emphasized.
“Ready to help”
A few days after the drone attack on the Saudi refineries, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that Saudi Arabia buy Russian S-300 and S-400 complexes. This happened during a press conference following the results of a trilateral summit with the leaders of Iran and Turkey. According to him, Russian systems will allow Riyadh to reliably ensure the safety of infrastructure facilities.
“As for the assistance of Saudi Arabia ... By the way, the same Holy Quran speaks of the unacceptability of any kind of violence, except for the protection of some kind. Here, in order to protect our family, our country, we are ready to provide appropriate assistance to Saudi Arabia, and it is enough for the political leadership of Saudi Arabia to make a wise state decision - just as the Iranian leaders did in their time by purchasing the S-300, and the way the president did Erdogan, having purchased from Russia the latest S-400 Triumph air defense systems, Putin said on September 16.
As the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov later noted, Saudi Arabia has not yet responded to this proposal.
The superiority of Russian complexes over the American ones was also noted in Turkey - such a statement was made by the Foreign Minister of the country, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Washington previously proposed Ankara to abandon the Triumphs in favor of the Patriot.
“The Russian S-400s are more advanced air defense systems compared to the American Patriot,” he told TGRT on July.
The military expert, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko, also pointed out the lag of American complexes from Russian ones. In a conversation with RT, he noted that many countries are forced to purchase Patriot systems for political reasons.
“The United States, in fact, is forcing its partners to buy military equipment and, in particular, Patriot air defense systems. Regarding Pompeo’s claim that air defense systems around the world work with varying degrees of success, the statement is completely stupid and incompetent. Russian air defense systems work everywhere, always, in any situation it is guaranteed to be good, ”he said.
Korotchenko emphasized that the S-300 and S-400 have a number of advantages compared to Patriot - for example, when deployed, Russian systems can eliminate targets within a radius of 360 degrees, while American systems have a limited firing sector.
- SAM S-400
- RIA News
- © Ilya Pitalev
“This is shooting in sectorial mode, while our systems shoot in a radius of 360 degrees, that is, a rocket after launch can hit a target from any angle. In addition, our systems are more noise-resistant, adapted to defeat any targets, from those that go at low altitude and are hardly noticeable, and ending with the defeat of targets in the stratosphere. Everything is amazed equally successfully, ”the expert added.
In turn, the head of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy Alexei Pushkov noted that against the background of the latest statement by Mike Pompeo, the fact that the United States does not disdain to use an sanction tool to promote its products is especially striking.
"Pompeo admitted: the Patriot complexes operate" with varying success. " Thus, one cannot rely on them. Why buy them then? The pinnacle of absurdity: impose sanctions for refusing to acquire systems that work "with varying success." After this story, there is no alternative to our S-400, ”said the senator.
Pompeo admitted: the Patriot complexes operate "with varying success." Thus, one cannot rely on them. Why buy them then? The pinnacle of absurdity: impose sanctions for refusing to acquire systems that work "with varying success." After this story, there is no alternative to our S-400.
- Alexey Pushkov (@Alexey_Pushkov) September 19, 2019At the same time, Stanislav Byshok, a political analyst at the CIS-EMO international monitoring organization, believes that Saudi Arabia can move on to the purchase of Russian weapons, but not instead, but in parallel with American models. He noted that Riyadh is under more significant influence from Washington than Ankara, which has already purchased S-400.
“Now, in general, there is some young trend towards diversification, that is, not a complete transition from American to Russian weapons, but to the use of Russian technologies along with American ones. I think that as a test step, they may well do it. Another thing is that it all depends on how much the US will crush. Because Saudi Arabia is largely connected with the States ... That is, it will be more difficult for them to do this than the Turks, ”he told RT.