Syria serves as a "military school" for Russian forces and a "testing ground" to test its weapons

Shoygu: 300 models of weapons have been upgraded after testing them in real war conditions in Syria

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu confirmed the testing of the newest types of Russian weapons during military operations in Syria. He added that Syria has served as a "military school" that provided combat experience opportunities for all participating senior officers and non-commissioned Russian military officers "in real war conditions".

Shoygu's statements, given in an extensive interview with Moscow newspaper "Moskovskij Komsomolets", are not the first for a Russian official declaring the use of operations in Syria to test and improve modern Russian weapons systems. However, Shoygu went further when he defended the specification and the capabilities of modern Russian weapons, as part of its commercial promotion. He identified the enemy against whom Russia have used those weapons in Syria as a strong one who possesses the most advanced types of weapons.

During the dialogue between the Moskovskij Komsomolets’ journalist and Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, a consensus emerged between the two on the considerable benefit Russian forces have received since Russian military intervention in Syria. This was evident from the wording of a question to which the intro was confirming that "the activity of the Russian Air Force during the course of the civil war in Syria added a lot of prestige to our armed forces."

After the introduction, came up the question: "Can we rely on this scene, in which a large but limited number have participated on our side, to judge the general status of our armed forces? " Shoygu began answering by inflating the "capabilities of the adversary" faced by Russian forces. "They are very mistaken, those who think we have fought in Syria with a class of primitive militants," he said.

The Russian defence minister decided to ignore the fact that the Russian forces mainly supported the Syrian regime in its operations against areas controlled by the Syrian opposition that do not have powerful and modern weapons. He instead, focused on ISIS terrorists, saying that Russian forces have fought against a huge terrorist organisation with thousands of militants. He described it as "a system that has the support of specific countries interested in destabilizing the region." He then went on to show the organization's tremendous military technical capabilities. "The terrorists had hundreds of tanks, assault rifles and armoured vehicles," he said, “And hundreds of thousands tons of ammunition have been seized in the past years from Iraqi and Syrian forces, as well as hundreds of suicide bombers, and the latest technologies including communication system and reconnaissance equipment."

The operation in Syria appears to have served as a school for Russian forces and a laboratory to test modern weapons. According to Shoygu, commanders of regiments and priority, commanders of the armies (Russian forces of several armies), commanders of forces in the federal military departments, heads of central administrative bodies of the Russian Defence Ministry, and even "faculty members of all higher military educational institutions" have gained combat experience in Syria. All of them "passed the Syrian experience," Shoygu said, adding that "90 percent of the Russian air force, including the commanders and technicians of bombers, fighter jets, long-range bombers and transport planes, passed through combat operations in Syria."

He declared that some of the pilots carried out 150-200 combat sorties; meaning that they were able to develop their combat skills during operations in Syria. Needless to mention the technicians and personnel who also gained experience in Syria by being responsible for preparing the aircraft before taking off.

Shoygu also confirmed the testing of the latest Russian weapons in Syria, the modification of some of them and the withdrawal of others from production as a result of those tests.

“President (Putin) was directly instructing to modify or improve specific weapons specifications based on the results of the work in Syria," Shoygu explained.

He pointed out that as a result of the "experience gained in Syria," which is the testing of weapons during operations in Syria, "300 models of weapons have been updated, and 12 models of promising weapons have been withdrawn from production and service in the Russian forces."

Winged Kalibr missiles were among the weapons that were modified to improve their performance after testing in the Syrian operation.

According to Russian officials, the use of Russian weapons in Syria has elevated the demand for these weapons. In his comments in February 2017, Sergey Chemezov director of the state-owned company Rostec, described the Russian military operation in Syria as "free propaganda" for Russian weapons, confirming that it has positively affected the Russian arms sales.