Russian Defense To Get New Missile...

AP/ABC ^

[RCW2001]

Russian Defense to Get New Missile

Russian Air Defense Troops to Get New Missile in Late 2002 or Early 2003

The Associated Press

M O S C O W, Jan. 15

A new Russian missile that can target stealth aircraft and intermediate-range ballistic missiles will be ready for operation late this year or in early 2003, a news agency reported Tuesday.

The Interfax-Military News Agency said that tests of the air defense missile, the S-400 Triumph, will take place soon, according to an unidentified spokesman for the air defense troops.

The spokesman didn't say how many missiles would be deployed or where.

Russia's air force chief Col. Gen. Anatoly Kornukov initially said the first examples of the S-400 would enter duty in late 2001. He said the missile's deployment had taken longer than planned because of funding shortages and technical problems.

Details on the new missile have been scarce, but Russian military observers have said it can hit targets up to 250 miles away and engage stealth aircraft. The latest versions of its predecessor, the S-300, have a a range of 124 miles.

While the S-300 can shoot down short-range missiles, the S-400 can engage intermediate range ballistic missiles that have a range of 2,170 miles, according to an official Russian arms catalog.

When Russia proposed last year to create a joint missile defense system with Western European countries, Russian military officials mentioned both the S-300 and S-400 as possible components. The proposal, seen largely as an attempt to rally European criticism against the U.S. missile defense plan, has been short on detail and was quietly shelved.

The Interfax-Military News Agency also reported that the Russian military plans to upgrade the existing S-300 missiles to the higher S-300 PMU2 Favorite standard. A new short-range air defense missile, the Pantsyr, will also become operational this year, it said.

Russia's air defense troops will receive new radars in Russia's far north, northeast, central Siberia and the Far East, the report said. It added that more than 50 percent of air defense units took part in live firing exercises last year compared to 20 percent in 1997 and 40 percent in 2000.

[Paul Ross]

Looks like they are gearing up for a near-term blow-up with....us? (Note enhancement of radars along the likely bombing routes of U.S. forces)

[Paul Ross]

Looks like they are gearing up for a near-term blow-up with....us? (Note enhancement of radars along the likely bombing routes of U.S. forces)

[backhoe]

Cute- there's more info on the earlier S-300 here:

-Links for Missile Defense- Nuke News--

[Pearls Before Swine]

Guess they were ready for the US withdrawal from the ABM treaty. In fact, they were more than ready! It sounds as if they've been working around it all along.

[boris]

Look into the underground complex--the size of Washington, D.C.--they are building under the Urals. Frantic, round-the-clock activity...and they change the subject whenever we ask what it is for.

Also check out their stockpiles of CBW and their massive chemical and bio-warfare program...which has never stopped, or been cut back.

They're our friends.

--Boris

[flamefront]

From FAS

The Triumf S-400 is a new generation of air defense and theater anti-missile weapon developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau as an evolution of the S-300PMU [SA-10] family. This new system is intended to detect and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 km (2- 2.5 times greater than the previous S-300PMU system). The Triumf system includes radars capable of detecting low-signature targets. And the anti-missile capability of the system has been increased to the limits established by the ABM Treaty demarcation agreements -- it can intercept targets with velocities of up to 4.8 km/sec, corresponding to a ballistic missile range of 3,500 km.

[GOP_1900AD]

What you refer to is Yamantou Mt. If you or any others have additional links on this topic it would be much appreciated. Thanks, BM.

[GOP_1900AD]

Bump.

[Mark17]

Guess they were ready for the US withdrawal from the ABM treaty. In fact, they were more than ready! It sounds as if they've been working around it all along.

That was my first thought also. So much for the ABM treaty anyway. Maybe it is really a good thing Bush pulled out of it.

[Prodigal Daughter]

FYI

[OKCSubmariner]

I guess Russia wants to protect herself from rogue states using ballistic missiles with ranges between 0 and 3500 km, Eh??

[OKCSubmariner]

Thanks for the flag on this article.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[klpt]

[Pearls Before Swine]

If US chose to scrap ABM treaty then why so fuss when Russia doing the same?

Because the missiles didn't appear overnight. They are the product of years of work. That means that it appears the Russians weren't abiding by the treaty--they only wanted us to. Is there any other way to interpret this?`

There wouldn't be any fuss if these missiles appeared two or three years after the scrapping of the treaty. It would be expected on both sides.

[The Westerner]

Do you remember how quickly the Stealth bomber that crashed in Bosnia (?) was scooped up, by the Russians I presume. For decades, they have stolen our technology in order to reverse engineer or in this case learn how to defeat it, just as the Chinese have done.

Additionally, any President of Russia who strongly protests our own self-defense while spending at least a decade of effort creating this kind of weaponry is duplicitous. If Russia was only interested in defending against an attack by the United States, it would not protest our creation of a defense shield which would protect us from them. The aim of Communism was not to defend against Capitalist states. It was to destroy us. Has that thinking changed in their military?