Previously, a source in the Russian Defence Ministry expressed an opinion that American Patriot systems, which were protecting the oil refineries, failed to do their job due to their low efficiency against drone swarm attacks. Former Director of the Israel Missile Defence Organisation Uzi Rubin has revealed in an interview with the Defence News media outlet that Saudi air defences, namely Patriot systems, failed to repel the combined drone and missile attack on the country’s oil facilities in September due to the aerial assailants flying below the horizon. According to him, the defences were not prepared to detect such targets.
"When it comes to missiles, missile defence sensors will aim above the horizon because the missile is above it and you don’t want clutter. So when it comes to guarding, the issue is things that can sneak in near the ground", he said.
Poster Comment:
The S-300 works alongside the S-200 which downs drones. The Iranians also have the HQ-9, a Chinese system designed upon the S-300 and the Patriot upgrade made by the Israelis. They deploy those to protect the S-300 which takes on higher altitude and faster more dangerous targets so hopefully nothing gets through.