The russian army is experiencing a significant shortage of air-defense systems and is forced to take them from export customers. In particular, a photo has been spot online of the Pantsir-1S surface-to-air missile system in a very specific camouflage used by the occupiers.
Oleksandr Kovalenko, better known as @zloy_odessit, drew attention to the photo. The exact date and location of the shooting is not known, but given the green grass and clothes of the occupiers, it is more likely to be the period before October of this year.
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Defense Express notes that Iraq ordered up to 48 Pantsir-1S’s in 2014, half of them were delivered as of 2018. The cost of the order, according to available information, was 2.3 billion dollars. And it was the camouflage that revealed the origin of this complex in the ranks of the occupiers.
The appearance of the "Iraqi" Pantsir-1S SAM may indeed indicate that russia lacks available air defense equipment and the Kremlin is forced to stop the supply of military export products. At least a similar case was recorded in relation to artillery ammunition destined for Azerbaijan.
At the same time, the contract also could have been canceled by Baghdad, and then the russian federation had "spare" Pantsir-S’s, which were eventually sent to their own army. But the fact that the camouflage was not changed during the transfer is quite indicative of the haste in the transfer. And the photo itself, which was taken at least several months ago suggests that the situation for russia with regard to air-defense equipment could only get worse since that time.
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