A Russian military contractor, specializing in electronic warfare, will use information gained from dissecting a US Tomahawk cruise missile, used during an attack on Syria, to boost the capabilities of its own equipment.

The missile, delivered to Russia after the tri-party night attack on Syrian government targets by the US, the UK and France in April, is of particular interest to KRET, a leading developer of electronic equipment for the Russian military, according to Vladimir Mikheev, an aide to the company’s First Deputy Director Vladimir Zverev.

“Our new equipment needs to cover all spectra, optical and radio, which we found in the products of our counterparts,” Mikheev told Radio Sputnik.

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“As specialists we were very interested in seeing the real-life use of various weapon systems in Syria, including the Tomahawks. Now having this missile in our hands we clearly know what channels it uses to communicate control, navigation and geolocation information,” he explained.

Mikheev said incorporating the knowledge gained from studying the US cruise missiles will take KRET two to three years. It will help Russian electronic warfare systems be better in countering American missiles “on all stages of combat deployment” he said.

Earlier reports claimed that Russia obtained at least two US missiles fired at Syria on April 14 in relatively undamaged state. The attack was launched in response to what the US and its allies claimed to be a chemical weapons incident in Eastern Ghouta. It targeted what they said were facilities used by the Syrian government for a chemical weapons program.

There were conflicting reports about the success of the attack, with Western powers insisting that all missiles successfully hit their targets, while Russian military said a significant portion were intercepted by Syrian air defenses.

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