According to kp.ru, today the American military is showing its main interest in the development of Russian weapons designers of the new S-500 anti-aircraft missile system. The reason for this is obvious, because even the previous versions of the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems are far superior in their tactical and technical characteristics to the famous overseas Patriot air defense systems (Patriot Advanced Capability-3). And when the Americans learned that an even stronger than the S-400, the S-500 air defense system, was already in the works, they went completely mad. The US Patriot anti-aircraft missile system is inferior in almost everything to the Russian counterpart of the S-400 air defense system. And with the adoption of the S-500 air defense system, it will yield even more.
It should be noted that the American military is well aware of the progress of work on the creation of a new air defense system and sometimes their information is striking in relevance. For example, the American military are well aware that the S-500 is at the final stage of development at the Almaz-Antey concern, they also know that certain components of the system are already undergoing field tests in Saryshagan, and the introduction of the SAM itself is scheduled for 2015.
The S-500 is an anti-aircraft missile system, which is currently being developed by GSKB JSC Concern Air Defense Almaz-Antey. The main difference from previous versions is a new anti-missile missile for intercepting flying targets at a speed of more than 7 km / s. There are no analogues of this rocket in the world.
The S-500 is a completely new generation of surface-to-air surface-to-air missile systems. The main task of the complex is to intercept ballistic missiles with a range of more than 3,500 km at both medium and short distances. Also, the complex can provide protection from aviation radio detection and guidance systems and from modern aviation jamming systems. With a target range of 600 kilometers, the S-500 will be capable of detecting and simultaneously hitting up to 10 ballistic supersonic air targets.
The creators of the S-500 claim that their complex will be able to shoot down ballistic missiles in near space and thus become an element of tactical missile defense. The creators of the rocket did not hide the fact that the target detection range of the S-500 system "will increase by 150-200 km" in comparison with the S-400. Air Force Commander Alexander Zelin did not hide his own pride, confidently declaring that "the S-500 will be demonstrated in the coming years." And everything went to this. The army was expecting new weapons. All the more so because our defense industry complex rarely pleases it with news that one could be proud of.
Such news of the creation of new weapons, of course, allows the Russian military to maintain the hope of obtaining at the disposal of truly unique weapons systems that are so necessary for our army today. It is also encouraging that, despite all the problems in the Russian military-industrial complex, design enterprises have survived that are capable of creating weapons of the future. In this case, we are talking about Almaz-Antey, which not only withstood the years of devastation in the military-industrial complex, but also began to reach completely new frontiers, which deserves all praise. And they sounded from the lips of the highest officials in the Kremlin, including the president, prime minister and defense minister.
But at the very beginning of 2011something happened that even the most knowledgeable specialists in air defense systems did not expect: the general director of GSKB Almaz-Antey I. Ashurbeyli was dismissed. On the same day, in protest, the chief designer of GSKB A. Lagovier submitted an application for resignation.
It is not clear why, to cut off the head of the hen that lays the golden eggs? But there must be some objective reason for making such a decision. We can recall the situation with the removal from his post of the chief designer of the well-known Bulava, Yuri Solomonov. Then there was a really objective reason - the tests of the rocket ended in failure and everyone recognized it. In this situation, the work was carried out actively, those minor flaws were resolved almost instantly, because a group of like-minded people worked on the project. True, rumors began to spread among journalists that “some forces” had their eyes on a successful enterprise, bringing huge profits to the state treasury, and therefore trivially decided to push aside the objectionable Ashurbeyli.
There is information that a journalist from one of the central newspapers of Russia admitted that he was offered a huge amount of money for a compromising article directed against Ashurbeyli. But he refused. But the refusal of one journalist did not stop the customers and soon an article appeared on the Internet that described the inner life of GSKB in a rather unattractive light. In the Investigative Committee of Russia, the published article was called an ordinary "order", which is not confirmed by anything.
It is obvious that the article compromised not only Ashurbeyli, but the entire team of the design bureau. An entertaining fact of this whole case is that, firstly, all the information was frankly far-fetched, and secondly, the author of the article, who could tell about the customers of the compromising evidence at the Almaz-Antey State Design Bureau, remained unknown.
Today, there are several versions that may well explain the reason for such an unexpected personnel maneuver at an enterprise that is almost ready to transfer a completely new weapon system into production.
The first version is the fact that Igor Ashurbeyli, with his developments, tried to combine various scientific schools in his enterprise. At first glance, what is special is that scientific knowledge that was previously used only in certain areas - the Air Force, the Navy and the Ground Forces, were used in one complex. But this is only at first glance, hidden competition between the branches of the Russian army has existed and will continue to exist in the future, and as a result, Ashurbeyli became objectionable in his attempt to unite what is impossible to unite de facto.
The second version is the influence of overseas "friends" who are very afraid that the day will come when the S-500 complex will appear in the armament of the Russian army, capable of canceling all plans to build an anti-missile defense system in Europe. It can be assumed that having all the information about the progress of work on the creation of the complex, as we indicated above, the Americans made every effort to cut this work to the root and prevent even the possibility of the appearance of the S-500 complex.
The third version looks banal to the primitiveness - money. It was money and, moreover, a lot of money that could play a decisive role in the fate of the general director of Almaz-Antey. According to only the official data, we are talking about 20 billion rubles a year, and, as Ashurbeyli knows, he is an odious person who never enjoyed the protection of the mighty and, as a result, this ruined his career.
These versions are different in their meaning, but they have the same essence - the anti-aircraft missile system, which the American military is so afraid of, may remain a project. Unfortunately, in our modern society, personal ambitions dominate state interests. And the second is the fact that the same American military knows about everything that happens in our design bureaus and may well influence the course of work.
