S-300P/400 News [Russian Strategic Air Defense] #3

Almaz-Antey provides first regimental set of S-400 for Russian Defense Ministry

The Defense Ministry said that Russia’s Aerospace Force would obtain four S-400 systems this year

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Russia’s Almaz-Antey concern has provided for the Defense Ministry this year’s first regimental set of S-400 air defense systems Triumf.

"The parts and components of the air defense missile system S-400 Triumf are delivered by the sub-contractors to the assembly center at the Kapustin Yar proving ground, unloaded there and stored at technological areas. The components are then checked for quality and the systems assembled and tuned up," the concern’s press-service said.

After that the assembled systems are handed over to the client for acceptance tests at the proving ground. The tests include live missile launches against target simulators.

Earlier, the Defense Ministry said that Russia’s Aerospace Force would obtain four S-400 systems this year. In 2016 Almaz-Antey provided five regimental sets of this system.

S-400 Triumf is a long-range air defense system authorized for service in 2007. Its task is to destroy enemy planes, cruise and ballistic missiles, including intermediate range ones, and surface targets. Last April the deputy chief of Russia’s Aerospace Force, Viktor Gumenny, said that S-400 capable of destroying targets in near space had begun to enter duty.


More:
http://tass.com/defense/966171

Stating the obvious

'Taking It Apart Won't Help': Why S-400's Secrets Safe Despite Sale to Turkey

https://sputniknews.com/military/201709181057496814-s400-turkey-secrets-safe/

...However, speaking to Stanavov, Viktor Murakshovsky, a retired army colonel and editor in chief of 'Arsenal of the Fatherland' magazine, allayed such fears, calling them "incompetent gossip."

In fact, Murakshovsky said, the combat characteristics of the S-400's export models are significantly inferior to those found in Russia's arsenal, and lack the latest technologies protected as state secrets by the Defense Ministry.

"The drafting of the passport of the export profile is controlled by a structure subordinated to the Defense Ministry – the Federal Service for Military Technical Cooperation. Without a visa from the Defense Ministry, no item can go abroad in a configuration that poses a threat to Russia's national security. The same applies to the S-400," the retired officer explained.....

The heavy long range SAM protects your airspace so you can have MiG-31s and Su-35s and PAK FAs flying around and also AWACS and inflight refuelling aircraft to keep those aircraft airborne to defend from cruise missile attack.

The R-77 is cleared to hit cruise missile targets from fairly long range and the R-33 and R-37 are both optimised to shoot down the launch platforms before they release missiles but they can also hit cruise missiles too.

The new A-100 can direct missiles so an A-100 flying above an S-400 battery can provide that battery with long range low level target information.... and Su-35 with a dozen R-77s could fly 200km closer to where the cruise missiles are coming from and operate radar silent with target data from the A-100 and its own passive sensors.

MiG-31s with R-60MKs and now perhaps R-73s could chase down cruise missiles fairly easily.... in fact a MiG-29/35 or Su-27/35 with IR guided R-27ETs could engage cruise missiles at long range over the cold tundra...

The cheapest option would actually be the Igla-S MANPAD as it has a proximity fuse and a sensitive seeker for dealing with UAVs and UCAVs.

Develop a long range UCAV and load it with quad packs of Igla-S for max kill probability with lowest cost.

What they could do is develop a large rocket pod for Igla class MANPADs, with perhaps 10-16 tubes per pod.

Slide missile tubes directly in to the pod and mount one under each wing of a UAV or perhaps have them in the fuselage so the can be lowered and fired and then retracted back up. Another option would be a wing tip 4-5 tube launcher with IR sensors front and back for looking for targets and acting as DIRCMs

Blimp air defence radars would be the best IMO.

Long endurance, enough space & payload for supplies and comforts for the crew (if manned at all) as well as a decent-sized powerplant, no radar horizon limits.

It's disadvantage is that it will be easy to detect and shoot-down. However if ground-launch vehicles are covering it (particularly SHORADS) and friendly fighters are patrolling the airspace, etc.. then such blimps should be pretty survivable.

AWACS is something you take along with you when you want to invade an enemy's airspace or otherwise need radar cover in a hurry somewhere in the world and promptly.
For defending your own airspace, blimps, or even just tethered aerostats (the later definately not needing any crew onboard and immune to anti-UAV measures) - would seem to be more preferable.

Actually build a modern bllmp out of carbon fibre and modern materials that don't burn and fill it full of a mix of helium and hydrogen with side arrays of those new AESA radars and send it up to above 30,000m altitude and it would actually be bloody hard to shoot down.

Carbon fibre does not burn and various materials can be used like nomex that are fire retardant. Inside the structure you have bags of hydrogen but the "air" around the bags in the structure can be purged of oxygen and filled with nitrogen which is intert.

A large airship penetrated by an AAM or large SAM might lose quite a few bags of helium or hydrogen but there can be no fire at 30km altitude... not enough air.

That means a few bags deflated with their lifting gas escaping the airship would start to descend.... dropping ballast could arrest and even reverse that descent, but even if not then it wont be plummeting in flames like the hindenberg.

More importantly the airship could be covered in radar and IR sensors so any incoming threats could be engaged with small light anti missile missiles like Morfei (9M100) whether it is ARH or IIR guided.

the onboard jammers could have enormous power and of course thermal decoys and chaff are still options too. A powerful jamming beam could be reflected off the ocean so any home on jam missile would hit the water chasing the source of the jamming beam...

the size of the airship means it could see threats hundreds or thousands of kms away... a tethered version could draw power from a destroyer or cruiser sized vessel it was tethered to....

They already have blimps developed for mountains as a cruise missile detector and even just radio signal relay platform.

Nice idea garry but then it allows the opponent to develop space arms.

30km up is not in space.

A lightened MiG-25 has the world altitude record for an air breathing aircraft to 30,000m so it is not anywhere near space.

Imagine you build something like that and US build a satelite with missiles in it and send it next russian borders.

If you put it near an enemy border the simplest response would be an airborne laser system like the A-60 to simply cut it to bits... it still would not instantly go down in flames but it would not remain on station and active either.

You won t know if it carries nuclear weapons and it will be at 500 km from moscow.

Any US tactical strike aircraft could be 500km from Moscow with nuclear weapons, they could simply fly around Roshcha in the Ukraine which is less than 500km from Moscow by flight... Of course if it actually launched anything towards Moscow I would imagine the S-400 and S-300 batteries nearby would end its existence fairly quickly.

Radars are often static so easy targets. Its better to have lot of them working in a network than having just few very capable but extremly expensive.

Who said anything about expensive.

We are not talking enormous blimp like the Hindenberg... it might be only slightly bigger than a bus... it does not need to carry people... just a very large radar antenna array of AESA elements and a very long tether back down to the ship it is operating with.

An Airship with radar arrays mounted on it of all types from high down to low frequency would be a very valuable asset for the Air Force and their heavy SAM batteries.

The biggest threat to a SAM site is low flying missiles and an airship would be ideally placed to spot them at max distance allowing reactions including shutting down or even moving, or deploying aircraft to intercept.

Is anyone concerned about China getting the S-400 system considering that they will just copy it.

They will learn from the technology, if they do copy it then Russia can demand royalties for the production of those copies.

The fact is that if Russia does not sell S-400 to China and China gets the same technology some other way then China could copy that and produce as many as they like because there would be no paper work with Russia.

By selling them the product they are then bound by the agreement not to make copies... or should I say unlicensed copies.

There is talk of Turkey buying S-400... if they do then pretty much anyone could buy some.... India, China, perhaps even Iran and Syria...