Colonel Khodarenok called the failure of Iran's air defense
The Israeli Air Force has carried out the first strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Tehran. Bases, missile defense systems and residential complexes with representatives of the IRGC were attacked. Why the Israeli strikes were successful, but the Iranian air defense forces did not fulfill their task, and what would Comrade Stalin say about the work of the Iranian anti-aircraft gunners, the military observer of Gazeta argues.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok.
The first, but not the last blow
At this stage, it is somewhat premature to summarize any exhaustive results of the first strike by the Israeli Air Force against Iranian targets. There is still insufficient information, and the situation is developing. And the blow is most likely far from the last, but only the beginning of the campaign.
As for the actions of the Israeli Air Force, in terms of the number of funds raised (more than 200 aircraft, almost an air force in combat personnel), this strike can be assessed as the first day of an air operation.
It is no exaggeration to note the good organization of this raid by the Israeli Air Force command. The headquarters seemed to have carefully defined the tasks of the formations and units, the targets of the strike and the degree of their destruction, the operational and tactical formation of aircraft in the strike, the axes of routes and flight profiles, the air defense breakthrough lanes and the actions of aviation in suppressing enemy air defenses, the order of interaction, support and control.
Why didn't Iran's air defenses repel the strike?
As for Tehran's opposition to this Israeli strike, to begin with, it should be noted that the air defense forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran do not seem to have fulfilled any of their tasks. Namely, to reliably protect the country's most important facilities from air strikes in the interests of maintaining their combat capability and fulfilling their assigned tasks.
Major claims can be made against Iran's reconnaissance of an aerial enemy and notification of protected facilities and troops about it, the destruction of Israeli Air Force aircraft and other means of air attack in flight.
In theory, with the detection of a mass takeoff by the Israeli Air Force, Iran's air defense forces should be put on standby to repel the strike. The fighter aircraft of the Iranian Armed Forces must be lifted into the air. The interception of the enemy aircraft and the defeat of the air defense breakthrough echelon and the strike echelon should be carried out by the Iranian fighter aircraft in air battles even before the Israeli aircraft completed the combat mission. Subsequently, anti-aircraft missile forces were to be involved in the destruction of Israel's air attack assets.
According to preliminary information, these tasks have been completely failed by the Iranian air defense forces. The Israeli air force did not lose a single multi-role fighter during the first strike (in any case, there is no data on this yet, neither side has announced losses).
In the meantime, we can say this - almost every day in Iran they were preparing to repel an Israeli strike, but nevertheless it turned out to be not only effective, but also very unexpected.
Intelligence successes
The effectiveness of Israel's intelligence assets is also surprising. As is known, three of the most senior Iranian military commanders were killed during this air operation: Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Hossein Salami, Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, commander of the IRGC Hatem al-Anbiya unit Gholam-Ali Rashid. In other words, almost the entire top military leadership of the country was put out of action in one blow.
But all these military leaders, unlike Iran's stationary nuclear facilities and defense industry facilities, were constantly on the move, hardly spent at least two nights in a row in the same place, and took all possible precautions when conducting telephone and radio conversations.
In other words, the bitter experience gained during the defeat of the commander of the Al-Quds special forces in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani, in Iran was certainly taken into account. And suddenly such a negative result. There is only one explanation for this - Israel's intelligence assets turned out to be head and shoulders above the security measures taken by Iran.
Now the ball is on Iran's side. There is no doubt that Tehran will respond to Israel. What the response will be, most likely, will show in the very near future. There is no precise information or results about Iran's initial measures - the launch of hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles - at this stage yet.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
