Direct proof of use
The 48Ya6-K1 Podlet-K1 appears in the 2011 Syrian Civil War record as captured air-defense equipment during the rapid anti-Assad advance in central Syria in December 2024. The War Zone reported on December 4, 2024, that anti-regime forces had captured at least the antenna vehicle of a 48Ya6-K1 Podlet-K1 radar, a modern Russian low-altitude air-surveillance system.
Militarnyi separately reported the same day that Syrian rebels captured a Russian 48Ya6-K1 Podlet-K1 radar on the outskirts of Hama, citing imagery circulated by Status-6. Both reports treated the visual evidence as showing the antenna vehicle rather than proving control of every vehicle in the radar complex.
Sources: TWZ Podlet Captured In Syria, Militarnyi Podlet Captured In Syria
Timeline
The public sequence is concentrated in early December 2024. Militarnyi reported on December 4 that the radar had been found during fighting for Hama, while The War Zone described the capture as part of the broader rebel push south. The following day, Associated Press reported that Syrian insurgents entered Hama and that government forces withdrew from the city, placing the radar's reported capture in the same offensive phase.
The sources do not establish that opposition forces operated the radar after capture. The documented use category is therefore captured equipment: a Podlet-K1 vehicle was photographed and reported in anti-Assad hands, while the original operator and the fate of the rest of the radar complex remained uncertain in the public record.
Sources: Militarnyi Podlet Captured In Syria, TWZ Podlet Captured In Syria, AP Hama Capture December 2024
Operational context
Podlet-K1 is a sensor system rather than a missile launcher. The War Zone identified the captured vehicle as the radar's antenna vehicle on a KamAZ-6350 8x8 chassis and noted that a complete Podlet-K1 system also includes an operator-control station and an energy-support vehicle. Militarnyi likewise described the system as including an antenna post, mobile command-and-control post, and mobile power generator on separate KamAZ chassis.
The capture mattered because the Podlet-K1 is designed to support layered air defense. The War Zone described it as a low- and very-low-altitude detection radar usable alongside S-300PMU-2 and S-400 systems, while Militarnyi reported that the station was designed to work with S-400 and S-300PMU-2 air defenses and provide target guidance. For Syria, however, the direct evidence supports capture or seizure rather than confirmed rebel employment as an operational radar.
Sources: TWZ Podlet Captured In Syria, Militarnyi Podlet Captured In Syria
