A stray bullet of a surface-to-air missile from Syria accidentally flew near the Israeli nuclear facility, interception battle

In the early hours of April 22nd, missiles flew near the Dimona nuclear facility in Israel's Negev desert, and an interception battle occurred. However, the missile that flew from the Syrian direction was not a deliberate attack, but a stray surface-to-air missile aimed at an air target and missed.

Timeline of stray bullet incident

1. Israeli fighter planes strike Syria.
2. Syrian forces intercept and launch surface-to-air missiles.
3. A surface-to-air missile that misses its target becomes a stray bullet.
4. A stray bullet accidentally flew toward the vicinity of a nuclear facility.
5. Intercepted by Israeli forces with surface-to-air missiles.

　In other words, the attack by the Israeli army triggered the stray bullets. The Israeli military explained, "Since surface-to-air missiles flew into the Negev desert from Syria, we intercepted them. We conducted airstrikes in retaliation." However, they did not explain that they attacked first. However, basically, surface-to-air missiles are not launched unless they are hit by air strikes.

　The stray bullet was the former Soviet long-range surface-to-air missile "S-200". The NATO codename is "SA-5 Gamon". It is a large surface-to-air missile with a launch weight of over 7 tons, and has a maximum range of about 300 km to air targets. The maximum range on the ground in a ballistic flight (a parabolic trajectory) as a stray bullet would be even longer. In addition, since it is about 300 km from Syria's capital Damascus to Israel's Dimona nuclear facility, it can fly without any problems.

Stray bullets of past surface-to-air missiles

Actually, two years ago, on July 1, 2019, the S-200 surface-to-air missile had a stray bullet, and was launched from the Syrian coast and launched into the sea. It flew about 250 km beyond and landed in the northern part of Cyprus Island in the Mediterranean Sea, causing a wildfire. The Syrian army does not appear to have self-destructed when a surface-to-air missile misses, and several other stray bullets have occurred.

On March 17, 2017, the Israeli army's ballistic missile interception system "Arrow 2" was intercepted for the first time in actual combat, and the stray S-200 surface-to-air missile that flew in from Syria flew ballistically. was dealt with.

　The above example is a typical one, and it is believed that many other cases have occurred if the self-destruction process has not been carried out. Depending on the flight angle when entering ballistic flight, long-range surface-to-air missiles can fly like short-range ballistic missiles.