Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems (SAMs) in Venezuela proved helpless during US air strikes due to the incompetence of the republic's military. The New York Times came to this conclusion.
According to the source, many Venezuelan air defense systems were not even connected to radar stations on January 3.
The authors also noted the inability of the Venezuelan military to maintain and operate the S-300, which made the country's airspace vulnerable.
For example, it became known earlier that the S-300shot down an American F-16 fighter with two missiles.
In addition, Venezuela has about five thousand units of man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) "Igla-S" in service. However,not a single shot was fired from them either.