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Russian Air Force has destroyed in Syria Osa SA-8 Gecko air defense missile captured by terrorists 13112153

The conflict in Syria

Russian Air Force has destroyed in Syria Osa SA-8 Gecko air defense missile captured by terrorists.

The Russian air task force has destroyed a shelter housing the 9K33 Osa (NATO reporting name: SA-8 Gecko) air defense missile system terrorists captured from the Syrian army, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday, December 31, 2015.

Screenshot of video release on Internet, Syrian insurgents captured an SA-8 Gecko from the Syrian army in a military base near Damascus

According to the spokesman, the information center in Bagdad in Iraq informed the Russian military about the redeployment of the Osa air defense missile system to Damascus. After that, reconnaissance units identified a camouflaged reinforced-concrete shelter housing the system.

According a video released on Internet, Syrian insurgents captured an SA-8 Gecko from the Syrian army in a military base near Damascus. The SA-8 Gecko NATO code name (Russian name 9K33 OSA) is a russian made highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system.

SA-8 Gecko is armed with 6 missiles ready to fire, mounted on the roff of the vehicle. Missile is tracked by radio-command guiding system. Loading platform can carry from 2 to 6 guided missiles. Engagement range for the SA-8 Gecko missile is approximately 2 – 9 km and engagement altitudes of between 50 – 5,000 m.

The 9M33M2 "Osa-A" missile extends the ranges out to 1,500 - 10,000m and engagement altitudes to 25 – 5,000 m. The 9M33M3 missile greatly enhances the altitude engagement envelope to 10 – 12,000 m, and as such are also able to fly further (about 15 km/9 miles) but the system is not able to engage targets at longer ranges, due to other factors such as the radar tracking of the missiles.

"Russia’s Sukhoi Su-34 [Fullback] frontline bomber was used to eliminate it. The shelter and all its contents were destroyed, following direct strikes of BETAB-500 air bombs," Konashenkov said.

As Konashenkov said earlier, Russian aircraft have performed 121 sorties to attack 424 terrorist targets since December 28.

On October 15, 2015, Russia’s Su-34 frontline bomber destroyed another Osa air defense missile system in the Syrian province of Damascus. The air defense missile system had been captured from the Syrian army by militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization.

A concrete shelter housing the Osa 9K33 system was completely destroyed, following strikes of KAB-500 guided air bombs. The system’s launcher was destroyed as well.

The Russian air task force started to conduct an operation against terrorists of the Islamic State and the Jabhat al-Nusra (terror organizations outlawed in Russia) in Syria on September 30, 2015 on the request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.