Russia’s S-550 is a Toned Down Version of the S-500 Missile System

Russia will use a combination of S-500 air defense system and its less powerful newly unveiled version, the S-550, to destroy hypersonic targets.

"The S-550 system will not replace S-500, because it is not more advanced that its predecessor. In fact, it is a slightly lighter version," a source close to the Russian Ministry of Defense told government-owned TASS News Agency today.

The ministry added that the new system’s combat goals will differ from those of Prometei. "S-500 and S-550 systems will become a platform for the new air defense system, by protecting strategically important facilities from hypersonic targets. Combined with the S-350 Vityaz systems and short-range systems, they will be effective against all targets existing today,” he added.

The source further stated that the S-550 system is not an attempt to revive an eponymous Soviet-era project, although some unimplemented concepts of it were used while creating the modern version.

First of the S-550 systems would enter service with the Russian Army by 2025. Earlier, TASS reported citing another source that hardware for the S-550 had already been built and related to the strategic ballistic missile defense system. The S-550 would use a mobile launcher with a hypersonic missile and no seaborne version of this weapon was envisaged.

Head of the Rostec state tech corporation Rostec Sergei Chemezov said at the Dubai Airshow 2021 that the S-550 would feature a longer-range target detection and missile interception capability.