Russian Air Defence Commander on the S-500's Revolutionary Role as an ‘Anti-Space Weapon’

With Russia’s Air Defence Forces set to induct its first S-500 long range surface to air missile systems into frontline service in the coming months, former head of the Russian Air Force’s anti-aircraft missile forces of the special forces command Sergei Khatylev has elaborated on the mysterious platform’s role and capabilities. The S-500 is known not to be a replacement for the S-400, but rather has a different role and focus and is intended primarily to engage high value targets at extreme ranges such as satellites, intercontinental range ballistic missiles, space planes, AWACS aircraft and heavy bombers. While the S-400 is capable of engaging all these targets, albeit at much lower altitudes, the older system is primarily oriented towards neutralising smaller and lower value targets fielded in larger numbers such as stealth fighters, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.

Khatylev stated regarding the S-500's role: 

“The system is capable of solving several tasks, for example, the detection and destruction of conventional aerodynamic targets, airplanes and helicopters, cruise missiles – anything that flies at speeds up to hypersonic. But besides this, the S-500 can shoot down ballistic targets, and not just during the downward portion of their flight, but at all other stages as well. And here the speeds are already cosmic – several km per second… The complex features a partition approach where one locator works on targets flying at maximum altitude, while the other is used for those flying near to the ground at altitudes up to 30 km.”

“This is an anti-space weapon,” the former colonel stressed, stating that the S-500 could neutralise targets at ranges of up to 600km and at 200km altitudes - meaning over 90% of its range of engagement altitudes are in space. The S-500 will provide a much needed defence against a number of ambitious upcoming American weapons systems - most notably the B-21 raider stealth bomber and a number of hypersonic space planes under development such as the SR-72 surveillance drone and a hypersonic unmanned bomber based on the same design. The S-500 will be complemented both by the shorter ranged S-400 and S-300V4 systems, as well as the longer ranged A-235 which is less versatile but was designed specifically to intercept attacks by intercontinental range missiles before they reach the atmosphere.