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They are talking about a S-550 that is specifically designed to engage targets at extended ranges and well outside the atmosphere including satellites.
They said the S-500 would be used at sea, but that S-550 would not, which I think means the S-550 is probably based on S-500 but optimised to take down satellites and ICBMs perhaps on their way past where the missile is based.
This would make S-550 a mobile Nudal. that could be used near major military ports and major military air bases and capital cities of regions, and also major industrial centres to protect from satellite and ballistic missile attack.
The S-500 is the extension up from the S-400 that is optimised for ballistic targets and low flying satellites and probably also hypersonic bombers and missiles when they materialise.
The S-400 replaces and expands the capacity of the S-300 with similar sized missiles reaching rather further and higher.
The S-350 expands the other way with a smaller lighter set of missiles that cover the ranges the S-300 covered but smaller, lighter, with active radar homing missiles with better precision and better coverage.
As mentioned the S-500 is a bigger missile than an S-400 or S-300 so if a target can be hit with the smaller missile then it makes sense to use the smaller cheaper missile to save the bigger longer ranged missiles for more difficult targets... but if a JSTARS or AWACS or even an inflight refuelling aircraft was spotted... such targets are force multipliers and are well worth a shot because it is not just the loss of such aircraft, but the realisation that these aircraft are not safe in these areas means they will be pulled back and not used and this alone will render them useless in those regions and will reduce the sensor capacity and flight range of aircraft in that area.
Russia has a formidable air defence system and it is improving all the time with new jammers and missiles coming on line with different capabilities.
Even ATGMs can be used in the surface to air and air to air role... ironically a Kornet-EM with its HE warhead and 10km range and altitude capacity is probably the most dangerous short range SAM available today... it is supersonic and rides a laser beam so seeing it and stopping it is a problem and they are cheap... the export price for Kornet was about $5K to India so for Russia it could be about $4K or perhaps less per missile.
And of course they are developing new tiny SAMs to defend against shell and rocket artillery for convoys... For use against drones I think they will need lots and lots of solutions all overlapping and working together.
No defence is 100% because the enemy will find some way of negating the advantages of your systems and sneaking one weapon through.
When we see the loss of a S-400 it normally means one TEL is hit, which... in comparison to what Russia is doing to the Ukraine where Patriot batteries are wiped out and the target they were defending flattened... well that is the difference between a good AD and a half arsed AD cobbled together from not so good systems.
Turkey will have signed agreements with Russia regarding what they can do with their systems and I can't see them pissing that all away to a country that tried to overthrow Erdogan not that long ago. Turkey knows how slippery the west is... that is why they are trying to join BRICS. It is a rather more honourable organisation that is not led by a narcissist like the US... in fact it is not led by any one country or family... which explains its appeal to most countries that are allowed their own opinions and views... ie not the west.
They said the S-500 would be used at sea, but that S-550 would not, which I think means the S-550 is probably based on S-500 but optimised to take down satellites and ICBMs perhaps on their way past where the missile is based.
This would make S-550 a mobile Nudal. that could be used near major military ports and major military air bases and capital cities of regions, and also major industrial centres to protect from satellite and ballistic missile attack.
The S-500 is the extension up from the S-400 that is optimised for ballistic targets and low flying satellites and probably also hypersonic bombers and missiles when they materialise.
The S-400 replaces and expands the capacity of the S-300 with similar sized missiles reaching rather further and higher.
The S-350 expands the other way with a smaller lighter set of missiles that cover the ranges the S-300 covered but smaller, lighter, with active radar homing missiles with better precision and better coverage.
As mentioned the S-500 is a bigger missile than an S-400 or S-300 so if a target can be hit with the smaller missile then it makes sense to use the smaller cheaper missile to save the bigger longer ranged missiles for more difficult targets... but if a JSTARS or AWACS or even an inflight refuelling aircraft was spotted... such targets are force multipliers and are well worth a shot because it is not just the loss of such aircraft, but the realisation that these aircraft are not safe in these areas means they will be pulled back and not used and this alone will render them useless in those regions and will reduce the sensor capacity and flight range of aircraft in that area.
Russia has a formidable air defence system and it is improving all the time with new jammers and missiles coming on line with different capabilities.
Even ATGMs can be used in the surface to air and air to air role... ironically a Kornet-EM with its HE warhead and 10km range and altitude capacity is probably the most dangerous short range SAM available today... it is supersonic and rides a laser beam so seeing it and stopping it is a problem and they are cheap... the export price for Kornet was about $5K to India so for Russia it could be about $4K or perhaps less per missile.
And of course they are developing new tiny SAMs to defend against shell and rocket artillery for convoys... For use against drones I think they will need lots and lots of solutions all overlapping and working together.
No defence is 100% because the enemy will find some way of negating the advantages of your systems and sneaking one weapon through.
When we see the loss of a S-400 it normally means one TEL is hit, which... in comparison to what Russia is doing to the Ukraine where Patriot batteries are wiped out and the target they were defending flattened... well that is the difference between a good AD and a half arsed AD cobbled together from not so good systems.
Turkey will have signed agreements with Russia regarding what they can do with their systems and I can't see them pissing that all away to a country that tried to overthrow Erdogan not that long ago. Turkey knows how slippery the west is... that is why they are trying to join BRICS. It is a rather more honourable organisation that is not led by a narcissist like the US... in fact it is not led by any one country or family... which explains its appeal to most countries that are allowed their own opinions and views... ie not the west.
