The export of the S-500 air defense system could begin in a few years, the CEO of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev said.
The export of the S-500 air defense system could begin in a few years, the CEO of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev said.
According to Rosoboronexport, the delivery of the first S-500 system to the Russian army is scheduled before the end of this year.
“The introduction of the S-500 Prometheus air defense missile system to the external market is expected to take place in the next few years. Currently, no permits have been issued,” said Mikheev at the end of Dubai Airshow 2021.
Mikheev added that Rosoboronexport is currently promoting to foreign markets a number of modern high-tech medium and long-range air defense systems.
“Among them are the best-selling S-400, as well as new developments by the Almaz-Antey aerospace group – the Antey-4000 and the S-350 Vityaz,” Mikheev said.
Recently, on Sputnik radio, military expert and editor-in-chief of the Segodny.ru portal Yuri Kotenok talked about the distinctive features of the S-500 system.
“The fundamental difference between the S-500 complex is its ability to hit targets in low orbit, that is, in fact, it operates at space altitude. It can also shoot down ballistic targets at close to supersonic speed, or at supersonic speed, which is the fundamental difference of the S-500 complex from similar developments by manufacturers. from Western countries,” said Mr. Kotenok.
According to Kotenok, the potential world demand for the latest Russian air defense systems is quite high.
“What competitors offer in the air defense missile market is inferior to us. For example, we’ve seen how Americans get into a quagmire with Patriot systems, guarding refineries in Saudi Arabia.
However, the Houthis (Yemen) fired on these factories using far from the most technically advanced equipment and the Patriots were unable to intercept. In that context, Russian-made complexes occupy an advantageous position,” emphasized Kotenok.
The S-500 air defense missile system is manufactured and developed by Russia’s Almaz-Antei Corporation. It is known that the corporation is currently completing the development of new missiles for the system.
The S-500 is a long-range missile system of an improved version of the S-400. The system is expected to be able to intercept up to 10 ballistic missiles in flight at the same time. The S-500 missile system also has an extended radar range compared to the S-400.
The S-500 could render US missile systems like Patriot, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and fifth-generation stealth fighters obsolete.
In addition, the S-500 Prometheus has a range of up to 600 km and can shoot 10 targets at the same time. While, S-400 can only destroy 6 targets. The S-500 system is expected to operate much more effectively than the current Russian S-400 system and the US Patriot Advanced Capability-3 system.