Posted on August 17, 2008 - by Venik

Russia’s War Booty

Strength and composition of the Georgian army are a big mystery. I checked over a dozen of authoritative sources and no two report the same numbers. Jane’s published a detailed list of major weapons acquisitions by Georgia since 2000. However, in the past few days the Russian military captured weapons not previously known to be in Georgia’s inventory.

One of the more interesting finds were six 9A33 “Osa” (NATO designation: SA-8 “Gecko”) mobile SAMs. The “Osa” is a tough little package that carries powerful radars and a six-missile launcher on a 6×6 amphibious chassis. The system is highly mobile and notoriously difficult to track. The “Osa” can take out targets ranging from cruise missiles flying at an altitude of 25 meters to supersonic bombers at 5 kilometers. In 1999 the SA-8 was credited with most ground-to-air kills of NATO manned and unmanned aircraft – both acknowledged and unacknowledged by NATO officials. Not a single Yugoslav SA-8 was destroyed or captured by NATO during or after the war.

Six upgraded SA-8 “Osa” mobile medium-range SAMs belonging to the Georgian army were captured intact by the Russian ground forces. The SAMs were secretly purchased from Ukraine in 2006-2007. An SA-8 of the Polish army is pictured above.

Where did Georgia get these SAMs? The two most likely sources are the same as for Georgia’s other weapons purchases: Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Both countries are marketing upgraded SA-8s. Here’s a brief note from the August 2008 Jane’s World Air Forces about Georgia buying one SA-8:

“Georgia has no interceptor aircraft and until 2006 was incapable of engaging enemy aircraft flying above 8,000 m with its ageing Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs). First steps in rectifying this deficiency was taken in 2006 with the modernisation of Georgia’s Air Operations Centre connecting military and civilian radar networks and weapons fire control systems, as well as the procurement of a mobile OSA-AKM 9M33M3 (SA-8 Gecko) SAM system from Ukraine. This should extend interception range above 10,000 m but still only has an effective range of 15 km.”

It would seem that this one SA-8 was shortly followed by another six from Ukraine. Previously I mentioned that Georgia would made an emphasis of beefing up its air defense, if Tbilisi was expecting Russian military response to the attack on Tskhinvali. Now it appears that Georgia did spend quite a bit of money of upgrading its air defenses and, therefore, did at the very least anticipate a military response from Russia. According to the latest official Russian reports, three Russian Su-25 ground attack jets and one Tu-22M3R reconnaissance aircraft were lost to Georgian air defenses.

According to Col. Igor Konashenkov, assistant to the Commander of Land Forces of Russia, in the past few days Russian forces captured 65 Georgian tanks. Over 20 of these tanks were destroyed after being captured because they were either damaged or too old (T-62s) to be of any further use. However, about 30 upgraded T-72s (the ones Saakashvili bought from Ukraine and the Czech Republic in 2005) were hauled away by the Russian vehicle recovery squads. It is interesting that Georgia deployed virtually its entire tank force to deal with South Ossetia. Clearly, Tbilisi’s hope was for a quick and overwhelming victory against the poorly-armed South-Ossetian militia.

Georgian T-72 main battle tanks leave Gori, some 46 km from the border of Georgia and South Ossetia, in 2006 (Source, photo and caption: Jane’s Defense Weekly, January 2, 2007)

In addition to the 65 tanks and 6 SA-8s, the Russians also captured 15 BMP-2 APCs, a number of D-30 towed howitzers, the Czech-made “Dana” self-propelled howitzers, and US-made armored vehicles (the type was not named). According to Col. Konashenkov, most of the armored vehicle were upgraded by Ukraine.

US-trained Georgian soldiers during a farewell ceremony at the Krtsanisi military training centre outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi in March 2006. about to leave for Iraq (Source, photo and caption: Jane’s Defense Weekly, January 2, 2007). From Venik: someone should have told Saakashvili that having his army look like Americans was not enough to fight the Russians.

Earlier in the week Russian troops raided the Georgian military base near Gori. This is one of Georgia’s largest bases and was the primary staging point for the push into South-Ossetia by the Georgian army. At the base the Georgians left 15 main battle tanks, dozens of APCs and towed artillery pieces, tons of artillery rounds and unguided rockets. All of the equipment was reported by the Russian to be in working order. The Russians destroyed the ammunition and moved other captured equipment outside of Georgia.

The military base at Senaki, which was opened in 2006 (Source, photo and caption: Jane’s/D Hammick)

At another military base near the town of Senaki – also abandoned by the Georgian army without a fight – the Russians 1,728 firearms, including 764 M16 US-made automatic rifles, 28 US-made M-40 machine guns, 754 Kalashnikov automatic rifles of various models, handguns and other weapons. Earlier the same day Russian aviation destroyed two Georgian military helicopters – an Mi-24B/P and an Mi-8MT – at the Senaki military airfield.

Just a reminder, several days ago Georgia’s fast guided missile boats attempted to intercept warships of the Russian Black Sea Navy. The Russian vessels opened fire before Georgian attack boats got in range. One Georgian French-made Combattante II Class craft, purchased from Greece in 2004, was sank.

Interior ministry troops advance toward anti-government protesters down Tbilisi’s main avenue on 7 November 2007 (PA Photos). From Venik: beating unarmed civilian is the Georgian army’s main speciality. Take a closer look at the hexagonal dish in the background on the right and the round dish on the left: these are the American Technology Medium Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), aka the “sonic guns” – some of the most inhumane “non-lethal” weapons designed to apply HF sonic vibrations to your internal organs.

Today in Kodori, Abkhazia, local self-defense force captured a number of Georgian 127-mm and 82-mm mortars, 120-mm D-30 towed howitzers, 100-mm artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns, several BM-21 “Grad” MLRS systems, and over a thousand firearms of various types.

Since 2004 Saakashvili spent nearly $2.5 billion (including nearly $300 million in military aid from the US and Turkey) on training his army and buying weapons. The primary sources of these new and upgraded weapons were Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Now most of this hardware will probably be transferred by the Russians to the self-defense forces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

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