Prometheus S-500 air defense system: a reliable defense shield of Russia

Kirill Grishin

The whole world followed the tests of the S-500 . Thanks to this weapon, Russia will have the opportunity to create an absolutely impenetrable “space shield”. Why is this air defense system riveted so much attention, including in the Chinese press?

The newest Russian anti-aircraft missile system, which is supplied to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, is not a more advanced modification of its predecessor, the S-400 . He has been assigned completely different goals. The S-500 “Prometheus” air defense system makes Russia invulnerable, the journalists of the official publication of the Ministry of Defense of the People’s Republic of China “Zhongguo Junwang” write .

The article argues that the “space shield”, which is the new Russian system, is capable of withstanding any existing and future threats from the air and from space. No country in the world, including the United States, possesses the means of attack that can overcome such powerful defenses.

The potential targets of the newest Russian air defense system are not only missiles and fighters, but also strategic bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, hypersonic weapons and even space satellites in low orbits. “Prometheus” is capable of withstanding even those promising weapons systems that are still under development and have not entered service with potential adversaries.

The S-500 Prometheus is a new generation of long-range surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile systems and high-altitude interception. They are able to detect and destroy simultaneously up to ten supersonic targets moving at speeds up to seven kilometers per hour. The radius of destruction of the missile system is about 600 kilometers.

State tests of the latest S-500 anti-aircraft missile system (ZRS) have been completed, and deliveries to the troops have begun, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov in mid-September . He added that excellent air defense systems will be sent for export from those that will go to the Russian army. According to Borisov , this is standard practice: the characteristics of exported weapons “should not exceed domestic ones.”

Interest in Russian air defense systems is stable. India not so long ago asked  Moscow to speed up the delivery of the Igla air defense missile system if possible. New Delhi , by the way, is one of the largest buyers of Russian weapons, including the S-400 system, to a certain extent the predecessor of the S-500.

The ability of the Russian S-500 air defense system to cope with the US “hypersound” is assessed

And Russia has new portable air defense systems on its way, the state corporation Rostec reported . The maximum range of these MANPADS is five to six kilometers, the designers are now increasing this figure.

Russia continues to hold the global leadership in the air defense systems segment, the most important segment of the military-technical industry.

Courtesy: (Radio Sputnik)