According to the British newspaper "The Times," the United States has seized a Russian "Pantsir-S1" anti-aircraft system in Libya.
The paper reported that the U.S. confiscated and removed the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft system belonging to Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army. The missile defense system, provided to the Libyan National Army by the United Arab Emirates, was seized last July and was taken out of Libyan territory from a western airport in Tripoli in full operational condition.
The newspaper stated that it was delivered by a U.S. Air Force plane to the U.S. Air Base at Ramstein in Germany, where it remains.
According to U.S. media sources, the seizure of the anti-aircraft system was motivated by concerns that the missile defense system could fall into the hands of arms traffickers and be used to target civilian aircraft.
It is worth noting that the "Pantsir-S1" is a short- to medium-range ground-to-air defense system, designed by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau. It is a development of the Tunguska system. The project was initially aimed at the Russian forces, but development was stalled for years due to a lack of resources until it was revived at the request of the United Arab Emirates, which funded the development project in 2000 and requested 50 units. Consequently, the project was relaunched to meet the Emirati demand, which was bolstered by requests from other countries, including Algeria and Syria.
