Four Years Late - Russia’s Revolutionary S-500 Air Defence System to Join Military in 2021

The Russian armed forces will receive the first serially produced units of the S-500 long range surface to air missile system in 2021, according to a recent interview with Aerospace Force Deputy Commander in Chief Lieutenant General Andrei Yudin with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper of the country’s Defence Ministry. The S-500 program has suffered from a number of significant delays, with Russian media initially reporting that the system would begin serial production in 2014 and later reports indicating that it would enter service in 2017 or earlier. The system’s entry into service has been delayed several times since, although this is thought to potentially be due to changes in its specifications and the emergence of more ambitious performance requirements. This could be necessary in order to counter emerging threats - in particular those from more survivable Western satellites and stealth aircraft and the expected introduction of hypersonic aircraft to NATO being developed under programs such as the SR-72. 

The S-500 follows on from multiple highly successful Russian long range multirole air defence systems, with the S-400 platform having entered service in 2007 and currently considered the most capable in the world alongside its more mobile counterpart the S-300V4. Neither of these will be replaced by the S-500, which has a different focus and places a much greater emphasis on neutralising smaller numbers of high value targets such as satellites, airborne early warning aircraft, and strategic nuclear delivery systems including bombers and ballistic missiles. The S-400 and S-300 systems, by contrast, are better optimised to neutralise larger numbers of lower value targets such as fighter jets and cruise missiles, although the S-400 is also highly capable against high value targets excluding those operating in space. The S-500 will combine state of the art sensors with an engagement range against enemy aircraft of around 600km. This will improve on the record perviously set by the S-400 and S-300V4 of 400km using the 40N6E Mach 14+ missile. To place these ranges in perspective, no analogous Western systems have been able to reach even a 200km range. The S-500 is expected to eventually be marketed for export, where it is likely to be popular given the growing emphasis by Western powers on space warfare which it provides one of the most cost effective means of waging.