SU-30SM, SU-35S, and SU-34 flying in formation - Sputnik International, 1920
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40N6: The New Missile That Doubled Russia's Air Defenses Range

© AP Photo / Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry Press Russian S-400 long-range air defense missile systems
 Russian S-400 long-range air defense missile systems  - Sputnik International, 1920, 09.11.2023
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The already-famous Russian S-400 air defense system made headlines this week after it was used to attack a target in the Ukrainian conflict zone with a new type of long-range missile.
The new 40N6 guided missile launched by S-400 units was used to engage targets “at maximum distances,” with Russian A-50 early warning aircraft operating in tandem with the launchers and providing additional guidance to the missiles, one digital media outlet noted.
The media outlet has taken a particular interest in the missile used in this attack, pointing out that the 40N6's trajectory – first ascending to an extremely high altitude before descending upon the intended target – essentially affords it both “unparalleled over the horizon strike capabilities” and the ability to take out low-altitude targets.

What Can 40N6 Do?

The 40N6 is a Russian-made surface-to-air guided missile designed for S-400 and S-500 air defense systems, that can strike targets at ranges up to 380 kilometers and take out both high-altitude and low-flying targets.
The missile’s onboard guidance system allows for the launching of 40N6s at targets located beyond the range of the launcher unit’s dedicated radar station.
As Russian military analyst Dmitry Kornev has explained, ordinary radars have trouble detecting targets over such long distances.
“A missile can reach a target so far away, but it would not ‘know’ where exactly to fly and whom to target. And the launcher unit also may not know this,” Kornev said.
In case of the 40N6, this problem was rectified via “a thing called target designation, when another system provides radar capabilities to this missile,” the analyst explained.
“For example, an A-50 aircraft spots a target and relays this information to an air defense regiment that launches this missile. The missile follows this guidance after the launch, it does not yet ‘see’ the target and just flies in its direction. The missile eventually detects the target, locks onto it and moves in for the kill.”
The arrival of this missile has effectively doubled the effective range of Russian air defense systems, which previously did not exceed the 150 kilometer range due to the aforementioned target acquisition problems, Kornev suggested.
He observed that a 40N6 missile can target virtually any airborne hostile, including fighter and bomber aircraft, cruise missiles, airborne long-range radar systems.
Furthermore, a 40N6 missile can strike at targets at distances where said targets simply “do not expect an attack,” Kornev pointed out.
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He added that, while Russia's S-400 were already capable of repelling massed air attacks, the addition of the 40N6 to their arsenal now allows them to repel such attacks at a very long distance.
“The West has no such systems, at least at this time,” Kornev remarked, noting that Western engineers have apparently never been tasked by their superiors to design a missile like the 40N6.
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