In the Leningrad region, combat missions were triggered by the calculations of the S-400 Triumph long-range anti-aircraft missile system (ZRK). This was reported in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Before adopting new air defense systems, military personnel conducted test shots at the Kapustin Yar test site in the Astrakhan Region.
This is the second regimental set of S-400, received by the Armed Forces of Russia since the beginning of the year. On March 4, Triumph combat vehicles were put into the compound of the Baltic Fleet in the Kaliningrad region. In total, about 30 regiments equipped with these air defense systems are deployed in the Russian troops.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the S-400 is the only air defense system in the world capable of deploying four types of anti-aircraft guided missiles (SAM), which hit targets at a range from a few meters to 400 km. The system can fire up to 36 objects with simultaneous guidance and tracking of up to 72 missiles.
The maximum range has Zour 40N6 developed by the ICB "Torch" (Khimki). As the TASS news agency reports citing its own sources, the ammunition was adopted in October last year. The peculiarity of the rocket is the presence of a radar homing head (GOS), which is capable of finding and pursuing a target independently of ground vehicles.
At the “Army — 2018” forum, in the presentation of the S-400 manufacturer, the Almaz-Antey Concern, the technical characteristics of the export version 40Н6Е were disclosed. The rocket can hit targets at an altitude of 10 m to 30 km. The maximum range of missiles reaches 380 km.
The main task of Triumph is to protect key military and administrative facilities from air attack weapons. The S-400 is capable of intercepting all types of combat aircraft, UAVs, cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as hypersonic vehicles.
"Triumph" is very popular abroad. Almaz-Antey implements contracts for the supply of C-400 divisions to China, Turkey and India. Today, the total value of export transactions exceeds $ 10 billion. Rosoboronexport is negotiating with a number of states.
"Data from someone else's hands"
March 4 The Swedish Defense Research Agency published a report on the state of the so-called A2 / AD restricted areas in Russia. We are talking about the territories where the missile complexes are located. Scandinavian experts concluded that the Russian military and the Western press tend to exaggerate the ability of the Russian air defense missile systems to intercept air targets.
The C-400 is given as an example. According to the report's authors, Moscow exports Triumph modifications with a range of up to 40 miles (64 km). Referring to the results of a certain "analysis", they report that the real range of the domestic complex is allegedly 15-20 miles (24-32 km). In addition, experts note that the S-400 can hit low-flying targets only at a distance of 2 miles (3.2 km).
“The characteristics of the C-400 published by the Swedish agency are falsification and fiction. They can not have their own information about the capabilities of our complex. They can only receive intelligence from someone else’s hands, or simply fantasize to discredit Russian military equipment, ”said Yury Knutov, director of the museum of air defense in Balashikha, in an interview with RT.
According to the expert, the characteristics of the S-400, which are given by Swedish experts, are not characteristic even of short-range or medium-range missiles, which are part of the ammunition of the air defense missile system. According to Knutov, Triumph is capable of intercepting targets at an altitude of 5-10 m and at a distance of up to 385-400 km.
- Anti-aircraft missile system S-400 "Triumph"
- RIA News
Commenting on the report of the Swedish Defense Research Agency, the freelance writer of the National Defense American analytic Charlie Gao questioned the possibility of hitting targets at a distance of up to 400 km. The expert indicates the need for the use of over-the-horizon radars or long-range radar detection aircraft (AWACS).
“Russia has more than 20 DRLO A-50M airplanes in service, which are capable of detecting airplanes at a distance of up to 800 km, which is much longer than the C-400 range. The main problem here is to ensure the exchange of data: the aircraft needs to send data to the C-400 complexes, which will then use them to strike the target at a great distance, ”says The National Interest.
In an interview with RT, the founder of the Military Russia portal Dmitry Kornev noted that at a distance of over 200 km, the C-400 radar stations are really unable to “highlight” the target. However, this does not mean that "Triumph" is not capable of hitting targets at great distances.
According to the expert, the ultra-long-range missile of the 40N6 complex is equipped with a unique homing head (GOS), which can independently find and pursue a target without receiving a signal from ground-based radars. According to him, at the present time, domestic SAMs have no analogues in the world.
“Roughly speaking, 40N6E is thrown into a certain zone where a rocket is capable of intercepting a target without a command from the ground. It is likely that the missile defense can be “guided” by aviation data or a single information field, which has been formed in recent years. Most likely, this rocket is necessary to defeat hypersonic atmospheric targets, ”Kornev argues.
"Take information from the ceiling"
Among other things, the Swedish Defense Research Agency believes that the Triumph's radars can be disabled by means of electronic warfare (EW) or through a massive strike by dozens of high-precision air-to-surface missiles. According to analysts, the S-400 can accompany from 16 to 64 targets instead of 72.
Yury Knutov believes that Scandinavian experts, apparently, "once again take the information from the ceiling," and do not take into account the markedly increased level of interference immunity of the Russian anti-aircraft systems. In addition, he noted that the “Triumph” is always under the cover of the air defense system of the near and medium range in case of a large-scale air attack.
“I would not argue that the West has seriously advanced in the development of EW funds. Moreover, the C-400 is part of an echeloned defense system. In principle, "Triumph" is able to protect itself, but why do it if there are other complexes that effectively intercept missiles at shorter distances. Without a doubt, the S-400 is very well protected, ”Knutov said.
Scandinavian experts have not left without attention the experience of the use of domestic air defense systems in Syria. In their opinion, the Russian air defense systems, including the Pantsir short-range complexes, allegedly proved to be ineffective in the Arab Republic. In particular, it is argued that the air defense systems of the SAR could not repel the attack of the United States, France and the United Kingdom last April.
- ZRK S-400 during the interception of combat duty at the Russian airbase Khmeimim
- RIA News
- © Dmitry Vinogradov
Dmitry Drozdenko, an observer of the magazine “Arsenal of the Fatherland”, noted in an interview with RT that, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Syrian air defense missile system was able to intercept about 70% of the ammunition issued in the republic. Moreover, the two almost intact cruise missiles "Tomahawk" were delivered to Moscow.
“In Syria, there really were destruction, but the damage to the military infrastructure was minimal, which means that the attack was unsuccessful. In addition, the West has not provided any evidence that almost all of the missiles, he claims, have achieved their goals. Although it would be easy to do, given the capabilities of US satellites, ”Drozdenko explained.
At the same time, the expert drew attention to the need to improve the combat skills of the crews of anti-aircraft complexes of the SAR army. Drozdenko recalled that in May last year, the Israeli Air Force destroyed the complex "shell". The reason for the success of Tel Aviv, as stressed by the interlocutor of RT, was the Syrian’s blatant disregard for the rules of anti-aircraft combat.
“In the West, Russia is often criticized for not using the S-400 in Syria. However, this was not necessary, since nothing threatened the Russian facilities in the SAR. Moreover, I am sure that Triumph is capable of tracking and intercepting F-35 fighters. Naturally, neither the United States nor Israel simply decided to test the capabilities of our air defense system, ”Drozdenko said.
Yury Knutov is convinced that the report of the Swedish Defense Research Agency is dictated by the desire of the West to discredit the domestic military equipment in the eyes of the philistine and Russian partners in military-technical cooperation. The expert suggests that the publication of the report may be the US authorities or representatives of the overseas expert community.
“The United States is annoyed that the C-400 crowds their Patriot in the market. American intelligence, as President Vladimir Putin said recently, is very closely following the tests of our latest rocket technology. In the USA, they are well aware that the Russian complex surpasses their air defense systems in a number of key characteristics and price. From here, there are constantly negative injections about Russian weapons that have nothing to do with reality, ”concluded Knutov.