Ethiopian army possibly equipped with Russian Pantsir-S1 air defense systems.

According to a video released by the Ethiopian national TV and showing a Pantsir-S1 firing in an Ethiopian-like landscape, it seems that this army is interested in the Russian air defense system. No source is available enabling to state whether Ethiopia has actually bought the Pantsir-S1 or not, and if so, in what quantity.

Pantsir-S1 firing  its two 30mm guns during Army-2018 near Kubinka (Picture source: Army Recognition)

Some Ethiopian media websites had previously speculated in 2018 that the military would need to procure new air-defense systems in order to protect the Grand Renaissance Dam, construction of which was launched in 2011. The country's air-defense forces currently operate the SA-2 and SA-3 surface-to-air missile systems.

The Pantsir-S1 (Nato code: SA-22 Greyhound) is designed to protect troops and installations against precision-guided air attacks from low and extremely low altitudes. The armament consists of twelve 57E6 surface-to-air guided missiles and two 2A38M 30mm automatic guns developed from the two-barreled 30mm GSh-30 gun. It is associated to a radar capable of detecting aerial targets with an effective surface of dispersion of up to 2-3 square meters at a distance of more than 30 kilometers and track them down from a distance of over 24 kilometers.