One of the most ambitious projects of the Russian defense industry is close to successful completion
The defense Ministry has announced plans to complete the creation of a new S-500 air and missile defense system as early as next year. However, official information about the weapons, which in terms of their capabilities should surpass all existing air defense and missile DEFENSE systems, is still scarce. According to Izvestia sources in the military-industrial complex, Prometheus will have two versions: mobile and towed. At the latter, launchers and radars will be placed on specially designed semi-trailers. Izvestia looked into what the s-500 anti-aircraft missile system is and what tasks it can solve.
Coming soon
According to the Deputy commander-in-chief of the Air and space forces, Lieutenant General Andrey Yudin, it is planned to complete the creation of the s-500 mobile system in 2021. Earlier it was reported that this year its state tests began. So far, they are conducted with a simplified configuration that does not have all the declared features. The first full-fledged serial Prometheus, according to Deputy defense Minister Alexander Krivoruchko, will enter the army in 2025.
The commander-in-chief of the Air and space forces, Sergey Surovikin, previously stated that the main task of the s-500 anti-aircraft missile system will be the destruction of medium-range and Intercontinental ballistic missiles in the final section of the flight path. Hitting planes, drones, and hypersonic objects is also possible, but it won't be a priority. In the future, they will add the possibility of destroying low-orbit satellites.
Launch of s-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems during the Kavkaz-2020 military exercise»
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Zurab javakhadze
To combine the ability to work on such different objects, the complex uses several types of missiles-some against atmospheric targets, others against space ones. The serial 40N6 with a range of up to 400 km will fight with air vehicles. Such missiles are already equipped with the S-400.
The satellites will shoot down other, larger and heavier 77n6 family munitions. The scheme of combining different missiles in one system has already been tested on the s-300V4 mobile air defense system of the Ground forces, which was developed in parallel with Prometheus.
Due to the need to detect a variety of targets, the system also had to design several radars with different functions. Some will be responsible for detecting objects in near space, others for aerial targets at high altitude and range. As with the S-400, it is possible to add specialized radar stations to detect low-visibility and low-flying targets.
Radar long-range detection of 92Н6А s-400
Image source: Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Both towed and mobile versions of anti-aircraft missile systems have their advantages and disadvantages, said former Deputy head of the air force for the CIS joint air defense system, Lieutenant General Aytech Bizhev.
– Towed ones are used mainly to cover stationary objects, and mobile ones are used in the rapidly changing situation in the theater of military operations, – he told Izvestia. - Maneuverable complex takes a few minutes to turn around, shoot back and immediately change its location. The disadvantage is that if this machine fails, the entire complex turns into a large target. And the towed equipment can be picked up by any tractor. But it does not have such mobility and maneuverability. It takes more time to prepare for shooting, and this is important in anti-aircraft combat. The decision on the use of certain systems will be made by the commander, depending on the situation and on the protected objects.
The s-500 will not replace the previous generation systems, but will complement them, providing mainly anti-missile and anti-space protection. The main and most numerous air defense system will remain The s-400 "Triumph". The Pantsir-SM, s-350 Vityaz and Buk-M3 SAMS will operate at the near border. Prometheus will be able to exchange information with them and work together under the control of automated systems. This is a standard function for all new models of air defense systems adopted.
Tests and secrets
In the spring of 2018, the powerful Yenisei radar detector developed for the S-500 system was captured on video from the Russian air force exercises at the Ashuluk test site. It was stated that it could detect aeroballistic targets at altitudes up to 100 km and a distance of 600 km. At the same time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that work on the S-500 was "almost complete".
Prometheus was created in deep secrecy from the very beginning. Officially, the appearance and characteristics of the promising complex have not yet been presented. For the first time, information about the new air defense system appeared in the media in 2009. But in fact, designers and scientists have been working on it for much longer. November 5 marked the 19th anniversary of the contract to perform development work under the code "Triumfator-M". It was signed between the Ministry of defense and the NGO Almaz back in 2001. The first few years were spent developing the concept and performing scientific research to provide the S-500 with characteristics radically superior to its predecessors.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Maxim Blinov
Image source: iz.ru
Work on" Prometem " intensified after the completion of the previous generation of s-400 air defense systems. For this weapon, Almaz-Antey even built a new enterprise. According to the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, the final Assembly of the S-500 and S-400 systems on a car chassis and semi-trailers on wheels has already been carried out by Nizhny Novgorod machine-building plant since 2018.
American media, citing a source in the intelligence agencies of their country, reported that during the Prometheus tests, they managed to record the defeat of an air target at a record distance of almost 500 km. This is higher than the stated maximum range of missiles for the S-400.
Information about the development of transatmospheric missiles for the S-500 has not yet appeared. Prometheus may have to wait for heavy anti-satellite ammunition. Most likely, it will repeat the history of the S-400, which was originally purchased without the 40n6 long-range missile-its tests were delayed. This is evidenced by the statements of officials who say that the new system is still being tested in a simplified version.
Anton Lavrov