S-400 Missile Ready To Defend Moscow

By Martin Sieff
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
SpaceWar

Russia's new state-of-the-art S-400 missile defense system will be operational around Moscow by the beginning of July. The commander of the Russian Air Force, three-star Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin, made the announcement Monday, RIA Novosti reported.

RIA Novosti described the S-400 Triumf system, designated by NATO as the SA-21 Growler, as "a new air defense missile system developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family."

"On July 1, one battalion of S-400 missile defense system will be put on combat duty to defend the airspace of Moscow and Central Russia," Zelin said.

According to the RIA Novosti report, Zelin said an S-400 battalion was still undergoing training and it would become operational on July 1, operating out of the town of Elektrostal in the Moscow oblast, or region.

RIA Novosti said the S-400 "has been designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), or twice the range of the MIM-104 Patriot, and 2.5 times that of the S-300PMU-2."

The news agency noted that in April, Col. Gen. Yury Solovyov, the head of Russia's Air Defense Forces Special Command, previously known as the Moscow Military District Air Defense Command, said the S-400 system could also be used for limited purposes in missile and space defense. However, it was not designed to destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles, he said.

RIA Novosti also quoted Solovyov as claiming that the S-400 had the ability to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with an effective range of up to 2,200 miles and a speed of up to 3 miles per second, or 10,800 miles per hour.

RIA Novosti said Russia's Air Defense Forces have more than 30 regiments equipped with S-300 missile system, which will all eventually be re-equipped with the S-400s. Russia has sold the S-300 system to Iran.