Is the Carting Away of Russian Pantsir S1 linked to U.S. Army’s IM-SHORAD Testing?

Is the Carting Away of Russian Pantsir S1 linked to U.S. Army’s IM-SHORAD Testing?

Speculation is rife that the U S military moving a Russian-made Pantsir S1 air defence system (ADS) from Libya to Germany may have something to do with the development and testing of the Interim Maneuver, Short-range Air-defense (IM-SHORAD) of the U.S. Army.

In May 2020 reports and photos emerged that an intact Pantsir S1 system was captured by Libyan government forces from the Libyan National Army (LNA) aligned with renegade commander Khalifa Haftar which had received it from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

British newspaper The Times reported Thursday that in June 2020, a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III transport aircraft carrying a Pantsir S1 took off from Zuwarah International Airport near Tripoli, and flew to Ramstein Air Base in Germany,

The Times ‘learnt’ that “the operation was ordered amid concerns that the Pantsir S-1 missile battery, which can easily bring down civilian aircraft, could fall into the hands of militias.However, that objective could have been achieved by simply destroying the system and not taking the trouble to fly it all the way to a U.S. base in Germany.

The Pantsir S1 seized in Libya is said to be the S1E model exported to the UAE, which is the most advanced version of the Russian ADS.