Jane's Inaccuracies

I know people like to take Jane’s as total fact sometimes, as their works are very well researched and highly detailed, but let me explain why this is sometimes not a good idea. They have a lot of good, detailed publications, but apparently the staff on the books don’t share their data.

Example: the guys that do Land Based Air Defence have been calling the 64N6 radar TOMB STONE for a while now. This is amusing, as the 64N6 is actually the BIG BIRD surveillance radar. TOMB STONE (30N6E2) is a highly modified form of the FLAP LID SAM engagement radar used with the S-300PMU-1/2. Now, the guys over at Fighting Ships are correct when they state that a TOMB STONE has been fitted to Kirov Hull 4 to guide the S-300FM SAM system. The discrepancy? The TOMB STONE shown on Pyotr Veliky looks nothing like the radar labeled as TOMB STONE/64N6 in Land Based Air Defence!

Simply put, Jane’s is not 100% accurate, particularly when it comes to the S-300P family of SAMs. So be aware of your data whenever you use Jane’s, and it is a good idea to be able to back it up with another source.

Here are a few of the “other” sources I use frequently:
Brassey’s World Aircraft and Systems Directory
Russian Fighting Ships 1945-Present (a Russian-language Fighting Ships)
Anything by Yefim Gordon or Piotr Butowski when it comes to Russian aircraft

SOC

“Peace through kinetic solutions”