Russia Tested New Air Defense Component

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An all-new missile was successfully tested from Russia’s S-500 air defense system (ADS), the successor to the highly successful and controversial S-400 ADS. The missile is designed to destroy hypersonic and ballistic targets. It has a sophisticated guidance system and will use the impact principle to destroy the warheads of ballistic missiles.

Earlier reports said it could hit targets flying at supersonic speed and a range that gets close to near-earth orbit.

In late May 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that S-500 trials will be completed soon. “Over 70% of surface-to-air missile regiments in the Aerospace Force have been rearmed with advanced S-400 systems. The S-500 system whose trials are successfully nearing completion is next to be delivered to the troops,” Putin said.

Russia also recently tested its S-500 with interceptors capable of eliminating hypersonic targets.

The mobile system can be transported by ground or air around the country and deployed depending on the threat, said Lieutenant General Aytech Bizhev, ex-deputy head of the Air Force for the Commonwealth of Independent States air defense system, according to defenseworld.net.

The S-500 utilizes a combination of missiles to intercept a variety of aerial targets. It employs the 40N6, which is also installed in the S-400, to neutralize “aerodynamic targets.” For ballistic missiles, the system uses the 77N6 with “conventional and nuclear warheads” to destroy targets in the “transatmospheric sector and in near space.”