The Russian army has adopted a new long-range anti-aircraft guided missile. This product will be used with existing anti-aircraft missile systems and is designed to ensure the safety of various objects, as well as troops on the march and in positions. According to media reports, the new missiles are already being mass-produced, and supplies to the troops will begin in the very near future.
On March 5, the TASS news agency, citing a source in the Ministry of Defense, reported that a new long-range missile had been adopted for the S-300V4 air defense system. The flight range of the new rocket reaches 400 km. The source claims that at the end of last year, the new missile successfully passed state tests. Now the missiles have been put into service, and their serial production has been deployed at one of the Russian defense enterprises. The manufacturing plant was not named. Serial missiles of the first batches are planned to be sent to the air defense units of the Western Military District. Later, anti-aircraft gunners from other districts will also receive new weapons.
At the end of last year, the press service of the Almaz-Antey air defense concern, which develops anti-aircraft systems, announced the development of a long-range missile project, which will be equipped with the newest S-300V4 complex. Such complexes have been supplied to the troops since last year. To date, the military has received two divisions of new anti-aircraft systems. Now, as follows from the latest news, the upgraded complexes will be equipped with new missiles with higher performance.
In the first reports about the adoption of the new missile into service, its name was not specified. Such information appeared only a few days later. On March 11, the edition "Vzglyad" announced the designation of the new rocket: this product has the index 40N6. This index has repeatedly appeared in earlier messages, but has not yet been mentioned in the context of the latest news about the adoption of the missile into service.
The adoption of a new long-range missile can be considered the completion of work on the creation of the next complex of the S-300V4 family. The S-300V4 system is a further development of the existing S-300V3 complex and has been developed since the end of the 2000s. One of the main features of the project was the use of new missiles, increasing the maximum range of destruction of targets in comparison with existing complexes. In particular, it was reported about the development of a missile with a range of up to 400 km.
The experienced S-300V4 air defense system performed its first rocket launch on May 31, 2011. In the future, several more test launches were carried out, including, as far as is known, using rockets of a new model. In the spring of 2012, a contract was signed for serial production and the supply of new complexes to ground forces. To date, the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern has supplied the customer with several divisions of the S-300V4 air defense missile systems, which were distributed among several military districts. In particular, the first three divisions of these complexes were sent to the Southern Military District.
In the very near future, the delivery of serial 40N6 long-range missiles will begin. These products increase the maximum target destruction range to 400 km and thereby significantly increase the potential of the S-300V4 complex. According to some estimates, the use of the new missile makes it possible to increase the covered area by 2-3 times in comparison with the previous complexes of the S-300V family. In addition, there is information about an increase in the effectiveness of destruction of both aerodynamic and ballistic targets. As a result, as reported by TASS, the effectiveness of the new S-300V4 air defense system is 1.5-2.5 times higher than that of the systems of previous models.
The latest news confirms the previously reported information about the completion of work on the 40N6 anti-aircraft missile project, the development of which continued for quite a long time. Design work on this rocket started at the end of the last decade, and the first mentions of it date back to 2009. In the future, information appeared repeatedly about the possible imminent start of mass production and the adoption of the rocket into service. However, until recently, such assumptions have not been confirmed. This feature of the 40N6 product, among other things, affected the course of the S-400 air defense system project. Due to the difficulties in the development of the rocket, this complex had to be put into service, not having a full range of necessary missiles.
According to rumors, one of the main problems during the 40N6 missile project was meeting the requirements for the maximum interception height. This parameter was supposed to reach 185 km, which would allow intercepting medium and short-range ballistic missiles. Nevertheless, the achievement of such characteristics was associated with certain difficulties, because of which the creation of the rocket was seriously delayed.
From the latest news, it follows that all development work and tests have been completed successfully. As a result, not so long ago, a new long-range anti-aircraft missile was adopted. This should lead to a significant increase in the combat effectiveness of military air defense units. The S-300V4 air defense system with 40N6 missiles, as follows from the available data, will be able to intercept aerodynamic targets at ranges of up to several hundred kilometers, as well as destroy short and medium-range ballistic missiles. Thus, troops receive a universal means of protection against various threats that may arise on the battlefield.
