Abid123
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
- Messages
- 2,829
- Reaction score
- -8
- Country
- Location
Major U.S.-led military exercises in North Africa, which began on June 7th and are concluding on June 18th, have been notable for many reasons, including their unprecedented scale and the new kinds of targets which America and its allies have simulated fighting against. Named ‘African Lion 2021,’ the exercises follow a decade of expansion of the U.S. military presence on the continent which began when America led a campaign to dismantle the government of Libya in 2011 with European and Qatari support. The exercises notably simulated attacks on two fictional countries - Rowand and Nehone - both of which were situated on the territory of Algeria. This was particularly notable not only because Algeria is the region’s leading military power, and because it remains outside the Western world’s sphere of influence, but also because of the kinds of armaments that participants in African Lion practiced attacking - namely S-400 long range surface to air missile systems. Algeria is notably the only operator of the S-400 on the African continent, and also deploys the older S-300PMU-2 and multiple shorter ranged systems such as the Pantsir-SM and BuK-M2.
S-400 Missile Batteries
Algeria is considered the leading military power on the African continent, and until 2013 when a new government came to power in Egypt it was the only major client for Russian armaments in the Arab world - Sudan being a possible exception. The country was widely seen to be escalating efforts to modernise its defences from the early 2010s largely due to the fate of its neighbour Libya, with Egypt’s post-2013 focus on acquiring Russian arms for air defence speculated to also be a response to the assault on Libya. Although Algerian relations with the U.S. and Europe have been far from openly hostile tensions have remained, a notable example being widespread reports in the country of Western interference to support mass anti-government protests in 2019 in the hopes of bringing a more Western-friendly regime to power.
Libyan Air Force MiG-25 Interceptor
While Libya has remained in a state of civil war ever since 2011, with NATO powers simultaneously supporting both sides, the success of the Western campaign against it was largely due to its neglect for modern defences. The country had delayed purchasing new hardware for its air force and air defences, which according to figures in the country’s leadership was due to the belief that “the Europeans and the Americans are our friends” since a rapprochement was pursued and sanctions were removed in the early 2000s. Not only had the country not purchased modern armaments, but it had failed to modernise existing weapons systems in its inventory - for example the electronic warfare countermeasures on its ground based air defences. Furthermore, the considerable arsenal it had was undermanned, with its air fleet having very few trained pilots. Libya did field a sizeable air force, including the world’s largest fleet of MiG-25 Foxbat heavy interceptors which despite their age could have posed something of a challenge to Western forces due to their sheer speed and firepower. Not a single one was ready to take off to meet the offensive, however, and for its neglect of military modernisation Libya continues to pay a heavy price to this day.
Algerian Air Force Su-30MKA Heavy Fighter
The war in Libya was ultimately seen as a demonstration of the fact that countries with seemingly positive relations with the Western powers could come under attack very suddenly if this was seen to be in the Western interest. As the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, stated during the war in 2011 while his country was under Western bombardment:
“you give up your weapons of mass destruction, you stop developing long range missiles, you become very friendly with the West and this is the result. So what does this mean, it means this is a message to everybody that you have to be strong. You never trust them, and you have to be always on alert. Otherwise those people, they don’t have friends. Overnight they change their mind and they start bombing us, and the same thing could happen to any other country… One of our big mistakes was that we delayed buying new weapons, especially from Russia, it was a big mistake. And we delayed building a strong army because we thought that we will not fight again, the Americans, the Europeans are our friends [since normalising relations in 2004.]”
Pantsir-SM Makes First Appearance in Algeria During Exercises
The S-400 system targeted in African Lion 2021 is prized for its ability to lock onto stealth aircraft at relatively long distances due to its use of multiple powerful radars, and is able to engage up to 80 targets simultaneously and to engage hypersonic missiles with interceptors that fly at over Mach 14. Combined with its high mobility, this has led NATO to perceive the S-400 as a major challenge to its potential control of the air in the event of war with Russia or other S-400 operators such as China or Belarus. Algeria’s fleet of combat aircraft is also formidable, and is primarily built around the Su-30MKA heavyweight fighter - a heavily modernised derivative of the Su-27 which was the Soviet Union’s top air superiority platform. The country had begun to phase out older MiG-29 squadrons for a squadron each of further Su-30MKA jets and new MiG-29Ms. Algeria operates to other classes of fixed wing combat jet, including Su-24M strike fighters and a single squadron of modernised MiG-25 interceptors - the fastest and highest flying combat jets in the world.
Algerian Air Force MiG-25 Foxbat Interceptor
The Algerian Air Force is reportedly set to begin fielding Su-57 and Su-34 fighters from Russia to respectively phase out the MiG-25 and Su-24, and although this has not been confirmed there have been multiple indications that orders have been placed. The country's lack of airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft, such as the Chinese KJ-500 or Russian A-50, remains a notable weakness, however. Algeria presents a formidable challenge to any potential attacker, and its air defence network is significantly more capable than any the U.S. has faced since the Korean War. It can only be speculated what Algeria’s security situation would look like today if it had not invested heavily in a formidable air defence capability, although it is highly likely that Libya would be much more stable and prosperous today if it had made similar investments in its own defences.
Source: https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-training-fight-algeria-drills-attack-s400
S-400 Missile Batteries
Algeria is considered the leading military power on the African continent, and until 2013 when a new government came to power in Egypt it was the only major client for Russian armaments in the Arab world - Sudan being a possible exception. The country was widely seen to be escalating efforts to modernise its defences from the early 2010s largely due to the fate of its neighbour Libya, with Egypt’s post-2013 focus on acquiring Russian arms for air defence speculated to also be a response to the assault on Libya. Although Algerian relations with the U.S. and Europe have been far from openly hostile tensions have remained, a notable example being widespread reports in the country of Western interference to support mass anti-government protests in 2019 in the hopes of bringing a more Western-friendly regime to power.
Libyan Air Force MiG-25 Interceptor
While Libya has remained in a state of civil war ever since 2011, with NATO powers simultaneously supporting both sides, the success of the Western campaign against it was largely due to its neglect for modern defences. The country had delayed purchasing new hardware for its air force and air defences, which according to figures in the country’s leadership was due to the belief that “the Europeans and the Americans are our friends” since a rapprochement was pursued and sanctions were removed in the early 2000s. Not only had the country not purchased modern armaments, but it had failed to modernise existing weapons systems in its inventory - for example the electronic warfare countermeasures on its ground based air defences. Furthermore, the considerable arsenal it had was undermanned, with its air fleet having very few trained pilots. Libya did field a sizeable air force, including the world’s largest fleet of MiG-25 Foxbat heavy interceptors which despite their age could have posed something of a challenge to Western forces due to their sheer speed and firepower. Not a single one was ready to take off to meet the offensive, however, and for its neglect of military modernisation Libya continues to pay a heavy price to this day.
Algerian Air Force Su-30MKA Heavy Fighter
The war in Libya was ultimately seen as a demonstration of the fact that countries with seemingly positive relations with the Western powers could come under attack very suddenly if this was seen to be in the Western interest. As the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, stated during the war in 2011 while his country was under Western bombardment:
“you give up your weapons of mass destruction, you stop developing long range missiles, you become very friendly with the West and this is the result. So what does this mean, it means this is a message to everybody that you have to be strong. You never trust them, and you have to be always on alert. Otherwise those people, they don’t have friends. Overnight they change their mind and they start bombing us, and the same thing could happen to any other country… One of our big mistakes was that we delayed buying new weapons, especially from Russia, it was a big mistake. And we delayed building a strong army because we thought that we will not fight again, the Americans, the Europeans are our friends [since normalising relations in 2004.]”
Pantsir-SM Makes First Appearance in Algeria During Exercises
The S-400 system targeted in African Lion 2021 is prized for its ability to lock onto stealth aircraft at relatively long distances due to its use of multiple powerful radars, and is able to engage up to 80 targets simultaneously and to engage hypersonic missiles with interceptors that fly at over Mach 14. Combined with its high mobility, this has led NATO to perceive the S-400 as a major challenge to its potential control of the air in the event of war with Russia or other S-400 operators such as China or Belarus. Algeria’s fleet of combat aircraft is also formidable, and is primarily built around the Su-30MKA heavyweight fighter - a heavily modernised derivative of the Su-27 which was the Soviet Union’s top air superiority platform. The country had begun to phase out older MiG-29 squadrons for a squadron each of further Su-30MKA jets and new MiG-29Ms. Algeria operates to other classes of fixed wing combat jet, including Su-24M strike fighters and a single squadron of modernised MiG-25 interceptors - the fastest and highest flying combat jets in the world.
Algerian Air Force MiG-25 Foxbat Interceptor
The Algerian Air Force is reportedly set to begin fielding Su-57 and Su-34 fighters from Russia to respectively phase out the MiG-25 and Su-24, and although this has not been confirmed there have been multiple indications that orders have been placed. The country's lack of airborne early warning and control (AEW) aircraft, such as the Chinese KJ-500 or Russian A-50, remains a notable weakness, however. Algeria presents a formidable challenge to any potential attacker, and its air defence network is significantly more capable than any the U.S. has faced since the Korean War. It can only be speculated what Algeria’s security situation would look like today if it had not invested heavily in a formidable air defence capability, although it is highly likely that Libya would be much more stable and prosperous today if it had made similar investments in its own defences.
Source: https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-training-fight-algeria-drills-attack-s400
