The U.S. military reportedly spirited a Russian-made Pantsir S1 anti-aircraft system out of Libya in June last year.
The air defense system was allegedly captured from forces aligned with renegade commander Khalifa Haftar.
A U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft carrying the Pantsir took off from Zuwarah International Airport, situated to the west of Tripoli, and flew to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, British newspaper The Times reported Thursday.
It is unclear as to what happened to the system after it arrived in Germany. The Pantsir could have been captured by Government of National Accord (GNA)-aligned forces after an airbase (possibly Al Watiya) was overrun in a counter attack.
Citing online flight tracking data, The Drive wrote that a C-17A plane first left Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina for Ramstein just days after the GNA captured Al Watiya in May 2020. That aircraft subsequently made multiple trips to and from Libya, with at least one additional apparent stop in Turkey, in the first week of June. It then returned to Charleston on June 7, 2020.
No serious consequences for Russia, But international customers could be at risk
The American smuggling of the Pantsir C1 Air Defence System (ADS) from Libya will have no serious consequences for Russia as the smuggled ADS version is different from the one used by the Russian Military, Vice-President of the Academy of Military Sciences (AVN) Sergey Modestov was quoted as saying by Interfax on Thursday.
However, knowledge gained from studying the system could have consequences for those who have a similar export version of the Pantsir C1, he said