Kubinka (Moscow region). August 23. INTERFAX-The new-generation S-500 air defense system is being mass-produced, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told Interfax.
"It is mass - produced," Borisov said, answering a corresponding question at the Army-2021 forum in Kubinka, near Moscow.
On July 20, at the MAKS Air Show, Borisov said that serial deliveries of the S-500 Prometheus to the Russian military will begin this year.
On the same day, 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 military department reported on July 20.
"The live firing conducted as part of the tests confirmed the specified tactical and technical characteristics and high reliability of Russian military air defense equipment," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The Defense Ministry then 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.
Earlier, the commander-in-chief of the 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 reported.
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.
