S-400 Triumph air defense system protects Moscow airspace

The state-of-the-art S-400 Triumph air defense system (NATO codename SA-21 Growler), of which there are only two in existence, “shot down” a digital target flying at an altitude of less than 10 meters in an exercise near Sheremetyevo Airport, showing its terrain-following capability.

The target was traveling at about 200 meters per second – the speed of most cruise missiles in Western countries and of passenger aircraft. As it turns out, the Triumph is capable of distinguishing between the two.

In other words, this state-of-the-art anti-missile system proved that it can distinguish a practice target from a Boeing.

Previous generation air defense systems do not possess this capability. In 2001, the Ukrainian S-200 air defense system shot down a Tu-154 en route from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk, killing 78 people. The system operators accidentally hit the airplane instead of the practice target. Photo: The S-400 Triumph

In this exercise, held in the Moscow Region’s Mytishchi district, the S-400 did not fire at all. The destruction of the targets took place entirely within the system’s electronics. However, the crew carried out all the same actions as they would during actual combat, including deployment of the missile launchers with real missiles.

During the exercise, the S-400 system spotted dozens of passenger airplanes, which, according to the military, take off from Sheremetyevo every four minutes.

In September, live missiles will be fired from the S-400 for the first time at the Gorokhovets and Ashuluk firing ranges as part of Union Shield 2011 exercises.

The S-400 is mounted on a wheeled chassis and can travel on paved and dirt roads, as well as cross-country terrain, while simultaneously tracking targets.

The S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system is capable of striking targets at altitudes from five meters to 27 km., with a range of up to 250 km. Photo: Containers for storing missiles for the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system.