Russia’s 40N6 Munitions a Game Changer; Military Plans Acquisition of Over 1000 New Hypersonic Surface to Air Missiles by 2027

By far the world’s longest ranged and fully operational surface to air missile, the 40N6 represents a game changing capability for the Russian armed forces and those of its allies - one which builds on over 60 years of advanced platforms designed to defend Soviet and Russian airspace ever since the entry into service of the S-25 in 1955. The new missile is operated by Russian S-400 and S-300V4 air defence platforms, and may well be integrated into the upcoming S-500 system alongside longer ranged munitions currently under development. The missile retains a phenomenal range of 400km, and can impact targets at hypersonic speeds of Mach 14. This allows Russian air defence batteries based on the country’s territory to strike targets over almost all of Germany and Austria and as far as Croatia and just a few kilometres east of Amsterdam - with the missiles impacting their targets just seconds after launch.

The 40N6 missile makes use of a trajectory unique for surface to air munitions, climbing to altitudes as high as 30km before making a sharp descent. The platform uses an active radar homing head to climb to a designated altitude before switching to search and destroy mode. This is key to allowing the missile to strike low altitude targets at extreme ranges well below the radio horizon. The missile can reportedly strike targets operating at altitudes as low as 5 kilometres - posing a lethal threat not only to fixed wing combat jets, but also to transport and combat helicopters.

While previously deployed by Russian missile units, the 40N6 is reportedly set to be produced in larger numbers with over 1000 planned for the Russian armed forces alone. Export orders for the S-400 from Turkey, Algeria, Belarus, India and China, and potential future orders from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Morocco, mean that the 40N6 is likely to benefit from the economies of scale provided by a larger scale of production - reducing the cost per unit and providing more funds for research and development to potentially improve the design or develop a successor. The missile’s mass production will be overseen by the manufacturer MKB Fakel, with a defence industry source quoted by Russian media stating regarding the production of the platform: “Overall, more than a thousand 40N6 missiles are planned to be purchased under the state armament program through 2027 to provide newly formed and rearm existing S-400 regiments of the (Russian) Aerospace Force with them.” The new missile will be a game changer in a number of theatres, including Europe, the Taiwan Strait, Kashmir, the Doklam plateau and potentially North Africa and the Persian Gulf as well.

While the S-400 has proven a highly popular export, despite extensive measures taken by the United States to limit its sales, Russia is reportedly offering a significantly less costly variant of the system which lacks the 40N6 to its defence clients. Such a system would retain maximum range of 250km using the 48N6E3, and though this missile lacks the over the horizon strike capabilities, speed or altitude of the 40N6 it retains formidable precision, advanced anti stealth capabilities and a range which far surpasses that of any Western anti aircraft missile system currently in service. Despite the advanced capabilities of the 48N6E3, the 40N6 remains well above and beyond any competition - and modern Russian long range air defence platforms deployed without such systems will be considerably more limited in their versatility and their ability to threaten hostile aircraft at extreme ranges.