Russia Unveils S-300 Missile Replacement

Russia unveils its new short-to-mid-range air defense platform ‘Vityaz,’ which will replace older variants of the S-300 system. The army will begin testing the new hardware later this year.

The new surface-to-air missile system is made by Russian weapons manufacturer Almaz-Antey. The company demonstrated the system at the Obukhov State Plant in St. Petersburg, home to its branch that manufactures the Vityaz launchers.

The system boasts advanced all-aspect phased array radar, a new mobile command post and a launcher carrying 12 vertical-launch missiles, which will use a variant of the 9M96 active radar homing missile. Similar missiles are used by the S-400, the newer generation of the S-300, which is currently being deployed in Russia.

Vityaz launchers can also fire a short-range missile that was not officially identified, but is likely a variant of the 9M100.

“I believe the system will be able to engage target within ranges from 30km to 120km,” Russian spokesperson said. “It’s a system of object air defense with some element of tactical antimissile defense.”

Almaz-Antey aims to hand over the system to the Russian Defense Ministry for testing before the year’s end, according to reports. 

The company partially based the design of the Vityaz on its work with the South Korean KM-SAM Chun Koong system. Almaz-Antey designed three radar units for the KM-SAM, and is rumored to have also helped design the system’s missiles.

The Russian military officially backed the Vityaz project, which has better capabilities than the Korean air defense system after studying its performance, Almaz-Antey said in 2010. The new Russian system has been in the works since 2007, and is expected to be completed in record time.

The Russian ministry earlier said it plans to buy at least 30 Vityaz systems before 2020, if it passes testing, and deployment of the platforms could start as early as next year.