S-500 or A-235? Russia Tests Advanced New Missile Defence System With Extreme Range

Russia's armed forces have reportedly tested a new anti ballistic missile system in the form of a long range surface to air missile, which comes as part of the service's efforts to strengthen its capability to intercept intercontinental range ballistic missiles from the United States and its Western allies. The test took place on June 4th 2019, and was followed by a brief statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense which confirmed a successful interception of the test target. While the ministry did not disclose the nature of the air defence system being tested, it has been widely speculated to have been a test of the S-500 Prometheus long range surface to air missile system which entered early production earlier in the year. The S-500 saw a prolific and more public test in May 2018, which U.S. intelligence reported set a world record for interception range at 481km. The S-500 has been developed primarily as an anti ballistic missile system, and unlike the S-300PMU-2 and S-400 is not intended to engage enemy fighter sized aircraft - though it may retain this capability. The missile system reportedly retains an engagement range of 600km, and is the only system in the world in production today which is capable of intercepting hypersonic targets.

The recent test of the undisclosed missile took place at the Sary Shagan testing range in Kazakhstan. A large missile testing range in the harsh region of Kazakhstan was developed in 1958, and continues to be operated by the Russian armed forces specifically for tests of anti ballistic missile systems. The S-500 is intended to replace the A-135 anti ballistic missile system, and alongside intercontinental range missiles will also be able to target high value enemy support aircraft such as E-3 Sentry AWACS platforms and KC-135 Stratotankers using its extreme range. While the Western Bloc currently lacks hypersonic intercontinental range ballistic missiles capable of reliably penetrating existing Russian air defences, relying on the Minuteman II and the submarine based UGM-133 Trident II, M45 and M51, faster missiles beyond the capabilities of existing air defence systems such as the S-400, S-300V4 and A-135 to intercept are currently under development. The S-500 system is being developed in parallel to the A-235 hypersonic anti ballistic missile system, which may also have been tested on June 4th given the mysterious nature of the test. The A-235 is intended to protect Moscow and important industrial regions from nuclear strikes, and will reportedly be able to deploy miniaturised nuclear warheads to destroy enemy missiles outside the Earth's atmosphere. The missile system will be able to neutralise targets in space at 800km altitudes using 51T6 missiles. The platform’s range will reportedly exceed 1000km, though it is expected to be considerably more costly than the S-500 and enter service some years later.