Article Posted on : - Mar 18, 2009

S-400 air defence system. RIA Novosti

MOSCOW (BNS): Russia has deployed the second regiment equipped with advanced S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems into combat service, the defence minister Anatoly Serdyukov said here on Tuesday.

Russia successfully conducted the live firing tests of the S-400 air defence complex at the Kapustin Yar firing range in south Russia’s Astrakhan Region in 2007. After the tests, Moscow deployed the first missile regiment equipped with the new system to protect the airspace surrounding Moscow and industrial zones in the center of Russia’s European territory.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti reports that the S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) air defence system is expected to form the new cornerstone of Russia’s theater air and missile defences up to 2020 or even 2025.

Reports in the media indicate that the S-400 is designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 km (250 miles), twice the range of the US MIM-104 Patriot, and 2.5 times that of the S-300PMU-2.

The system is also believed to be able to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, with an effective range of up to 3,500 km (2,200 miles) and a speed of up to 4.8 km (3 miles) per second.

The agency quoting sources said that a regular S-400 battalion comprises at least eight launchers with 32 missiles and a mobile command post. The new state arms procurement programme until 2015 stipulates the purchase of enough S-400 air defence systems to arm 18 battalions during this period, RIA Novosti said.