Une équipe voyageant à bord d'un avion cargo C-17 Globemaster de l'armée de l'air américaine est arrivée à l'aéroport de Zuwara, à l'ouest de Tripoli, en juin dernier pour charger la batterie et la ramener à la base de Ramstein, dans le sud-ouest de l'Allemagne.
Les États-Unis ont saisi un Pantsir S-1 en Libye et l'ont fait acheminer secrètement vers une base aérienne en Allemagne
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The United States seized a Russian-made missile system in Libya and secretly flew it to an airbase in Germany, The Times has learnt.
The same type of system is believed to have shot down a US drone.
United States seized a Russian made air-defence missile system captured on a Libyan battlefield and secretly flew it to a US airbase in Germany, The Times has learnt.
The operation was ordered amid concerns that the Pantsir S-1 missile battery, which can easily bring down civilian aircraft, could fall into the hands of militias or arms smugglers in the war-tom north African country.
A team travelling on a US air force C-17 Globemaster cargo plane arrived at Zuwara airport, west of Tripoli, last June to load the battery and transport it back to the Ramstein base in south westem Germany.
The United Arab Emirates had bought the surface-to-air system from Russia before sending it to Libya to support forces loyal to the selfstyled Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
At the time of its capture his forces were involved in a battle to take Tripoli from the UN-recognised government, which is supported by Turkey. He was backed by the UAE and Russia, and mercenaries from the Russian wagner group are believed to have operated some of the air defence systems .
The Pantsir was captured after an airbase held by Marshal Haftar' s troops was overrun in a counterattack.
The mission sheds further light on covert actions by the US against the Russian presence in Libya, '"which has some of Africa's largest oil reserves. While former President Trump showed little interest in the Libyan conflict, the military and the State Department have tried to expose the growing Russian role in the country.
In 2019 the US tipped off Libyan authorities about the presence of Russian political consultants in Tripoli working for Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner, which has also established operations in other areas of Africa. Last year the US military' s Africa Command took the unusual step of publicising its intelligence on the deployment of advanced Russian jets to Libya to support Marshal Haftar.
The US had a score to settle with Russia as it believed a Pantsir battery operated by Wagner technicians shot dowvn one of its £23 million Reaper drones on a surveillance flight over Libya. The US military demanded to have the '"wreckage back, but Marshal Haftar claimed he did not know where it was.
A Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system was also used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 with the loss of 298 passengers and crew. A different Russian system, sold to Iranian forces, shot down a Ukrainian airliner flying from Tehran last January, killing 176 people. It is thought that both missile crews mistakenly believed they were firing at enemy aircraft or incoming missiles.
A Russian official said Moscow was aware the US had removed the Pantsir system but suggested its capture would be of limited intelligence value since the US would have the opportunity to study the same system in the UAE.
Although the UAE worked closely with Wagner, and has allegedly helped to finance the thousands of mercenaries in Libya, it is a close US ally. It has bought more than 50 Pantsir batteries. Export versions, such as the one captured in Libya, are supposedly stripped of a carefully guarded Identification Friend or Foe database they carry with the transponder codes for all Russian air force jets. The system is capable of engaging multiple targets from low altitudes up to 50.000 feet and has a range of about 20 miles.
After capturing the Pantsir from the Watiya airbase on May 18. 2020. fighters transported it to the town of Zawiya, west of Tripoli. where it was seized by a militia commander called Mohamed Bahroun, nicknamed the Rat. He is suspected of having ties to smugglers and lslamist extremists.
Forces operating under the interior minister made Bahroun' s fighters hand over the missile system. It was then transported to a base hosting Turkish forces. and later to the airport for collection.
Analysts said the episode did not reflect favourably on Russia. or the UAE. There is an UN arms embargo that supposedly prevents the import or export of weapons from Libya.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russ ... -hjjtz0kd2
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