Russia prepares to deploy S-400 system

MOSCOW, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Russia's Air Force chief said Monday its latest air defense system would soon be set up in central Russia.

The new S-400 Triumf -- NATO designation SA-21 Growler -- air defense system to defensed against aircraft and ballistic missiles would first be set up at bases in the center of the country, Col. Gen.Alexander Zelin, said Monday, according to a report from the RIA Novosti news agency.

RIA Novosti said Russian defense planners believed the S-400 would be the backbone of the nation's air and missile defense systems until 2020 or even 2025.

"The S-400 air defense systems will be primarily deployed in central Russia, and only after that in other regions of the country, when more systems become available," Zelin said.

RIA Novosti noted that the S-400 was successfully tested last year at the Kapustin Yar firing range in south Russia's Astrakhan Region. As previously reported by Russian news services and UPI, a battalion equipped with the new system went into service in the Moscow region to protect the Russian capital last summer.

RIA Novosti said the S-400 had the capability to kill targets at a range of up to 250 miles. If confirmed, that would give it twice the range of the U.S. MIM-104 Patriot, and 2.5 times the range of the old Russian S-300PMU-2 system.

Russian officials and commentators have also claimed that the S-400 is able to destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, with an effective range of around 2,200 miles and speeds of up to 110,800 miles per hour, the Russian news agency said.

An ordinary S-400 battalion has at least eight launchers with 32 missiles and a mobile command post, RIA Novosti said.