S-300 air defense system
© Uliana Solovyova / SputnikS-300 air defense system
The S-300 air defense system can only be compared to the US-based Patriot system, said former military director Vitor Baranets of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, the former director general of the Almaz-Antey consortium's main project office, Igor Ashurbeyli.

"When we were working on the S-400, the Americans tried to steal one thing or another and end the project," Baranets quoted the interviewer as saying on a Zvezda show .

According to Ashurbeyli, the Russian systems S-400 and S-500 no longer have competition in the world.

The former director general of the consortium also pointed out that S-300 systems in Syria are capable of protecting 150 to 250 km of airspace depending on the type of missile used. He added that if the S-300 had been delivered to Syria in 2013, the Israeli Air Force's F-16 fighters would not have been able to "approach this" and carry out the attack that resulted in the downing of the Russian aircraft Il-20, at least according to the official story.

The decision on the delivery of the S-300s to Syria was taken after September 17, when a missile from a Syrian S-200 anti-aircraft system, in response to an Israeli-led attack, mistakenly shot down a Russian airliner Il-20, with 15 soldiers aboard, who was returning to the base of Hmeymim, according to the official story. FRN is of the opinion that the Il-20 was taken down directly by the French FREMM frigate, under Israeli orders and urging.

Moscow blamed Israel for the incident, arguing that Israeli fighters put the Il-20 under fire, using it as a shield.

The S-300 anti-aircraft systems, supplied by Russia to Syria, would detect the American F-22 fighters if they were used, writes the editor-in-chief of Natsionalnaya Oborona magazine, Igor Korotchenko.

The US Air Force is likely to use F-22 and F-16CJ fighters to suppress and destroy the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems in Syria, according to an article published by The Drive . In addition, the United States had already used the F-22s and F-16CJs during the initial phase of the military campaign in Syria when it was still unclear what response actions would be taken by the Syrian government on airspace.