Russia Launches Short-Range Ballistic Missile Interceptor

Russian Air and Missile Defense force has launched a short range ballistic missile interceptor Tuesday.

"The purpose of the launch was to prove the characteristics of the missile defense system’s antimissiles in service with the Russian Aerospace Force [RusAF]," Defense Ministry’s press office told journalists.

"During the test, the antimissile accomplished its mission by hitting its target on time," Lt. Gen. Victor Gumyonny, air/missile defense commander and RusAF deputy commander-in-chief was quoted as saying by Tass. The general had come to the missile range to supervise the preparation and conduct of the test launch.

At present, the RusAF’s Air and Missile Defense Force has laid a considerable groundwork as far as missile defense weaponry development and employment is concerned.

The Russian missile defense system’s information equipment is being upgraded as part of the system’s overall development and improvement. At the same time, research and development is under way on sophisticated antimissiles intended to boost the capabilities of Russia’s missile defense system.

A missile defense large unit operates the missile defense system. With the activation of the RusAF on August 1, 2015, the large unit was assigned to the 1st Special Air and Missile Defense Army of the newly formed armed service.

"The composition and tactical characteristics of the Russian missile defense system allow deterring a nuclear missile attack and increasing the nuclear retaliation threshold and survivability of the top military headquarters and government authorities, and developing the scale, concept and objective of an attack, using highly accurate jamming-immune information-gathering systems," the Defense Ministry said.

The system is a sum of territorially distributed sophisticated equipment operating concurrently, automatically and in real time and virtually guaranteeing the defense against new-generation strategic ballistic missiles with multiple individually targeted re-entry vehicles and advanced penetration aids, including chaff dispensers, active jammers and heavy and light decoys in various classes.

Centralized control of the system on alert duty and in battle is exercised by the combat control system implemented in the form of a dedicated software package. As far as alert duty is concerned, the combat control system ensures monitoring and maintaining a high degree of readiness of the missile defense system, including the tracking of space objects and the interaction of the missile defense system with the command posts of the missile early warning and space surveillance systems.

Operating in automatic mode, the combat control system controls the weapons systems engaging re-entry vehicles aimed at Moscow. In so doing, it conducts target acquisition, target selection and antimissile guidance.