Moscow. July 21. INTERFAX-The new-generation S-500 Prometheus anti-aircraft missile systems will enter service with the army, which provides air and missile defense (air defense-missile defense) of Moscow, the Russian military said.
"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-missile defense army first of all and in order to effectively cover Moscow and the Central Industrial District, " Lieutenant General Andrey Demin, commander of the 1st Air Defense-Missile Defense Army for special Purposes, said in an interview with the Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.
Serial deliveries of the new S-500 air defense system to the Russian military will begin this year, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Interfax on Tuesday at the MAKS-2021 air show"
On July 20, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on the successful firing of the S-500 and for the first time published footage of tests of this system.
"At the Kapustin Yar training ground, the newest S-500 anti-aircraft missile system performed test live firing on a high-speed ballistic target. According to the means of objective control, the target has been hit, " the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that the S-500 system, which has no analogues in the world, is designed to defeat the entire spectrum of existing and promising means of an air and space attack by a likely enemy in the entire range of heights and speeds.
"The live firing conducted as part of the tests confirmed the specified tactical and technical characteristics and high reliability of the Russian military air defense equipment," the ministry said. They said that after the completion of the full test cycle, the equipment plans provide for the delivery of the first S-500 system to the Air defense-missile defense association near Moscow.
On July 3, 2020, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Sergei Surovikin, said that the S-500 will be able to destroy satellites and hypersonic weapons of all modifications in near space.
"The main task of the complex is the destruction of medium-range ballistic missiles, and, if necessary, the combat blocks of intercontinental ballistic missiles on the final section of their flight path. The S-500 complex is capable of destroying hypersonic aircraft, aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles," Surovikin said at the time.
In May 2018, the American TV channel CNBC, citing sources who received data from US intelligence, reported that Russia had tested the S-500. According to the TV channel, the S-500 system successfully hit the target at a record range of over 480 km. According to American experts, this is more than 80 km higher than the range of any known previous tests, a source told CNBC at the time.
