To: abuelita who wrote (219092 ) 1/14/2026 10:42:48 AM From: TobagoJack Respond to Re Message 35384885 <<Would not have made any difference for air defense was switched off >>zerohedge.com Behind The Utter Failure Of Russian Anti-Air Systems In Venezuela what happened to Venezuela's Russian-supplied anti-air defenses, including S-300 and Buk-M2 surface-to-air missile systems purchased in 2009? well understood that the US military and CIA had help from inside the Venezuelan government - making it essentially a US-backed coup topped off with a special forces nab and grab against Maduro and his wife, there's still the question of whether the entire Venezuelan armed forces were ordered to stand down, or else that their defense systems simply didn't work or were inactive .S-300VM system, file image [/url]The New York Times says it was actually more the latter scenario - Russian-built air defense systems stationed in Venezuela were mostly inoperable and did not react to the major initial US strikes which paved the way for the ground operation in Caracas. the missile systems were not even linked to radar , according to US officials privy to the mission to The New York Times actually been unusable for several years . Satellite imagery and photographs further suggest that critical elements of the air defense systems were being kept in storage rather than deployed .Times that Venezuela (and presumably other Russian defense allies) has faced ongoing difficulties maintaining its Russian-made air defenses because of limited access to Russian technicians and spare parts - all of which have had to be diverted to support Russia's 'special military operation' in Ukraine.were practically unprepared for the U.S. attack ," Yaser Trujillo, a military analyst in Venezuela, told The New York Times .concludes : Venezuela’s much-touted antiaircraft systems were essentially not connected when U.S. forces entered the skies over Venezuela’s capital, and they may not have been working for years , former officials and analysts said. "After years of corruption, poor logistics and sanctions, all those things would have certainly degraded the readiness of Venezuela’s air defense systems," said Richard de la Torre, a former C.I.A. station chief in Venezuela who now runs Tower Strategy, a Washington-based lobbying firm.
permitted the systems it sold to Venezuela to fall into disrepair in order to avoid escalating tensions with Washington .
