The combat capabilities of the S-500 Prometheus air defense system have no analogues in the world. This complex is capable of becoming the head in relation to other previously created Russian systems. The main advantages of the S-500 in a conversation with Lenta.ru" was named by military expert, director of the Museum of Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov.
How Prometheus protects
The S-500 system is unique in its multitasking, the military expert noted. According to him, to date, no country has created anything like this.
"The S-500 consists of two parts — an anti-missile part and an anti-aircraft part. The anti-aircraft part works on almost all types of aircraft and performs an even larger range of tasks than the S-400 complex, in the sense that the range of the system reaches 600 kilometers, and the S—400 has 400 kilometers. Now the anti—missile part is capable of fighting hypersonic targets, hitting targets in near space, which is not done by any of the mobile systems in the world, and can also simultaneously work on ten ballistic targets," he said.
S-500 is a complex robot. In automatic mode, with elements of artificial intelligence, it is able to determine the type of target, determine "friend or foe", select the most dangerous targets, select the necessary type of missiles and open fire on them. All this is carried out under the control of people, but it can happen both in manual mode, when all functions are performed by the operator, and in automated mode
Yuri Knutov Military expert
According to Yuri Knutov, an automated mode is necessary, since hypersonic targets have very high speeds, it is almost impossible to accompany them by a person in manual mode. Also, this complex is able to protect the territory of the whole country, the expert notes.
It is possible to create such an air defense umbrella that is able to reliably cover a number of objects
Yuri Knutov Military expert
"It can be the head complex in relation to the S-400, S-350 Vityaz, S-300 and the Pantsir complex. And the greatest value of the S-500, given its anti—missile capabilities, is that it can be placed first to cover the cities of millions and the most important military and administrative facilities, and then it can be used to cover the main territory of the country, close the main facilities, thus deploy an anti-missile defense umbrella over our country," the expert said..
Foreign analogues
To get an analogue of the S-500, the United States needs to combine several systems, Yuri Knutov notes.
"In order for the complex to work equally on aerodynamic and ballistic targets, the Americans need to connect either the Aegis Ashore ground-based complex with the Patriot complex, or the THAAD complex with the Patriot complex. This is expensive and not very effective, especially when you consider that the THAAD complex works only in a certain sector. To change the firing sector, it is necessary to turn off and re—deploy the station in the right direction," he explained.
The advantage of the Russian complex lies in its speed, the expert says.
"The S-500 complex unfolds in a matter of minutes, it also collapses quickly, and for anti-aircraft missile systems this is fundamental, because the launch site of the rocket is detected within a few minutes, so after five minutes this system must leave the place of opening fire, otherwise fire will be inflicted on this square," he concluded.
Earlier, the Almaz-Antey concern reported that it had begun mass production of the S-500 system.
