Russian S-550 Missile Systems Enter Service

First of Russia’s new S-550 air defense systems have entered combat service after clearing state trials.

"The S-550 air defense system has successfully completed state trials. The first S-550 brigade has entered combat duty," a source close to the Russian defense ministry was quoted as saying by government-owned TASS.

The source described the new system as "an absolutely new and unrivalled mobile system of strategic missile defense," capable of "hitting spacecraft, ballistic missile reentry vehicles and hypersonic targets at altitudes of tens of thousands of kilometers."

He added that he new system becomes a part of Russia's comprehensive missile and air defense, comprised by Pantsir systems (low-altitude), long-range S-350, S-400 and S-500 systems and S-550 (in space).

The S-550 reportedly features a longer-range target detection and missile interception capability. A source close to the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS earlier that the system was not an attempt to revive an eponymous Soviet-era project, although some unimplemented concepts of it were used while creating the modern version.