Russia Reveals Pantsir-SM-TBM Air Defense System with 24 Missiles

Russia's Shipunov Instrument Design Bureau has revealed a new version of the Pantsir-SM air defense system (ADS) called Pantsir-SM-TBM that does away with its 30mm cannons and radar; instead it doubles the number of missiles to 24 besides receiving targeting data from networked sources.
A scale model of the new system was displayed at the "Engineers of the Future," forum in Tula, Russia this week. The Pantsir-SM is one of the most popular short-range ADS in the world with several countries having it in their inventories.
The TBM designation extension for the Pantsir-SM comes from a new type of transport-combat vehicle (TBM). The vehicle not only stores the missiles but also loads and launches them doing away with the need for an additional vehicle.
The replacement of the cannon with missile armament makes it possible to use this machine to destroy air targets both in the near and far range. The Pantsir-SM-TBM appears a development of recent battles where the Pantsir-SM has been up against Turkey's Bayraktar TB2 attack drones and has taken a beating on more than one occasion.

New missile
The Pantsir-SM-TBM is expected to be equipped with a new missile-flying at Mach 5 - as against the current 57E6E missile with a speed of 1300 m / s. Details of this new missile have appeared in the Russian media but not officially confirmed.
"A new small-sized anti-aircraft missile has been developed for the Pantsir-SM (TBM) air defense missile system, specially designed to destroy drones. One vehicle can carry up to 48 such missiles in containers of four," according to a report in Topwar.ru.
Yury Andronov, head of the department of the Center for Training Specialists of Shipunov Instrument Design Bureau was quoted by the Russian MoD's TV channel, Zvezda TV as saying that the increased load of missiles (24 missiles instead of 12) will solve the problem of engaging multiple targets simultaneously such as drone, missiles and low flying aircraft.