Russia air defense troops to test-fire S-400 system in August

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Russia air defense troops to test-fire S-400 system in August

13.04.2008, 04.33


   
   

MOSCOW, April 13 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian Air Defense Troops, who mark their professional holiday on Sunday, will test-fire a new air defense missile system S-400 Triumf in August 2008, the commander of the Russian Air Force Special Command Troops, Colonel-General Yuri Solovyov told reporters.

According to him, a new air defense missile system S-400 will be put into service in the Russian Special Command Troops in summer 2008. “We hope to receive this system in July-August 2008, test it and then put it on combat duty. Permanent combat readiness regiments will be the first to be reequipped with new air defense missile systems,” the commander said.

“We will also test the air defense missile systems Triumf against perspective air assault weapons. We have already begun preparing combat crews. Everything is going under the schedule,” Solovyov pledged, but acknowledging, “There are some problems in the operation of the new air defense missile system, but they are not major.”

According to Solovyov, the air defense missile system S-400 Triumf exceeds the operational S-300 in such parameters as “the jamming vulnerability, handling channels and the firing at high-speed targets.” S-400 can also operate in the outer space and can fulfill missions of a non-strategic missile defense system. Meanwhile, about the same number of people was engaged to put into service the Triumf system as that for the air defense missile system S-300 in the meantime. In this respect, the systems are identical, the general noted.

The air defense missile system S-400 Triumf is designed to destroy stealth aircraft, small-size cruise and short-range missiles, as well as warheads flying with a speed up to 4.8 kilometers per second and at a distance of up to 400 kilometers. The Triumf system can replace three S-300 systems. On August 6, 2007, the first S-400 division was put on combat duty in the Moscow regional town of Elektrostal.

The Day of the Russian Air Defense Troops is celebrated since 1975 on the second Sunday of April. The first Russian mobile antiaircraft battery was formed at the tsar residence, Tsarskoye Selo, outside Petersburg in 1915 during the First World War. During the Great Patriotic War the Air Defense Troops protected from the hostile aviation large administrative and industrial centers in the country, various communication lines, and shielded from the air the ground troops and the rear areas. In the post-war years the Air Defense Troops passed through various structural changes. The backbone of the Air Defense Troops made up the radio-radar troops, the air defense missile troops and fighters. In 1998-1999 the Air Defense Troops were included in the Russian Air Force.

At present, the Russian Air Defense Troops are equipped with unique air defense missile systems, radar stations, which surpass the best foreign models and approved themselves during exercises and at international shows. The Air Defense Troops are armed with fighter-interceptors MiG-29, MiG-31, Su-27, MiG-25, tactical bombers Su-24 and strike fighters Su-25.

   
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