The new-generation S-500 Prometheus anti-aircraft missile systems will enter service with the army, which provides anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense (air defense-missile defense) of Moscow, Lieutenant General Andrey Demin, commander of the 1st Army of special-purpose Air Defense-Missile Defense, said in an interview with the Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, published on Wednesday, July 21.
"We expect in the near future new automation systems and control systems, weapons, created within the framework of R & D (development work). For example, the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system. The A-135 system (missile defense systems) is also being upgraded. This latest equipment will be supplied to our air defense and missile defense army first of all and in order to effectively cover Moscow and the Central Industrial District, " Demin said.
He added that now the launches of outdated types of anti-missile systems of the A-135 missile defense system at the Sary-Shagan test site have been stopped. Calculations of the missile defense connection together with the calculations of the test site participate in the test launches of missiles of the modernized system.
On July 20, the Russian Defense Ministry published a video recording of tests of the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system. The tests were held at the Kapustin Yar training ground. The ministry noted that the S-500 system performed test live firing on a high-speed ballistic target. The tests confirmed the tactical and technical characteristics and high reliability of the Russian air defense.
On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that serial deliveries of the new S-500 air defense system to the Russian military will begin this year. According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid special attention to this topic at meetings in Sochi.
In early June, Izvestia reported that the S-500 Prometheus anti-aircraft systems would be armed with the latest interceptors. Their arsenal will include special ammunition that will be able to destroy the warheads of enemy ballistic missiles. The development of a system capable of hitting aircraft and hypersonic aircraft should be completed this year.
S-500 "Prometheus "(ROC" Triumfator-M") belongs to the new generation of ground-to-air air defense systems. This is a universal long-range and high-altitude interception complex with an increased missile defense potential, which is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. The system hits not only ballistic, but also aerodynamic targets, as well as cruise missiles. The damage radius of the S-500 reaches about 600 km.
