Originally Posted by
A_Van
Russian ships ... have means against such missiles.
OTHR (over-the-horizon radars) ... can't guide anti-missiles, but early warning ... give[s] land-based SAMs enough time to get ready.
even "grand-dad's" C-125 and "dad's" Buks operated by the Syrians were able to intercept 5 of 8 relatively new and smart A2S missiles.
Back-pedalling already then? All your points are correct but they only speak to downing cruise missiles, not the aircraft launching them, which was what you originally said would happen. The ships’ locations would be known to the aircraft and easily avoided; there’s no way enough ships can be deployed to provide overlapping SAM coverage down to sea level all the way to Cyprus.