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More Triumphs For Russia
December 2, 2009: Russia is getting another five S-400 (also known as the Triumf/Triumph or SA-21) missile battalions in the next year. Russia already has two battalions, with the first one entering service two years ago. Belarus is buying the S-400, and part of a battalion was sent to the North Korean border recently (to make a political point, not that the Russians fear a missile attack from North Korea any time soon.) Within the next six years, Russia plans to buy 18 S-400 battalions, while exporting as many as possible.

An S-400 battalion has eight launchers, each with four missiles, plus a control center and radar. The first one was deployed around Moscow. The Russians claim that this new system can detect stealth aircraft, implying that the hypothetical enemy is the United States. Russia also claims the S-400 can knock down short range ballistic missiles (those with a reentry speed of up to 5,000 meters a second, in the same way the similar U.S. Patriot system does.)

S-400 has a longer range (at 400 kilometers) than Patriot (70 kilometers). Export efforts are hobbled by a lack of combat experience for the system. Patriot has knocked down aircraft and ballistic missiles, S-400 has not. Moreover, Russia anti-aircraft missile systems have a spotty history (especially when confronted by Western electronic countermeasures.) But Russia is already touting a new, S-500 system, that can knock down longer range ballistic missiles (with higher reentry speeds) and stealth aircraft. The missiles around Moscow are part of a project to rebuild the Soviet era air defense system, which has fallen apart since the early 1990s. The new air defense system will be completed in about eight years. The S-500 will be available before that.

Former air force chief: Russia's air defenses weak

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV (AP) '' 1 day ago

MOSCOW — Russia is lagging 25 to 30 years behind the United States in developing prospective air defense weapons because of a meltdown of its defense industries, a former Russian air force chief said Thursday.

Retired Gen. Anatoly Kornukov said Russia has only a reduced capability to protect itself from an enemy attack — a statement that contrasted sharply with the government's claim that the nation's military are getting stronger following a post-Soviet decline.

The Defense Ministry has boasted about developing new S-400 air defense missile systems and proudly displayed some of them in Sunday's massive Victory Day parade on Red Square.

But Kornukov said that the military now has only two such systems, each including a radar, several launchers and support vehicles, and it was supposed to have 15.

He said the Soviet-designed S-300s have strong capabilities but are approaching retirement. "Their lifetime can't be expanded indefinitely," he said at a news conference.

Another component of the nation's air defense, fighter jets, have been increasingly grounded for lack of engines and parts, Kornukov added.

"Regrettably, our air defense forces only have a limited capability to protect the nation's security," Kornukov said.

Compared to the Soviet times, when the nation's air defense forces were capable of shooting down up to 98 out of every 100 intruding enemy planes, now it would only intercept 20 out of 100, he said.

"The situation is simply terrible," Kornukov said.

Asked whether the military is capable of fending off an attack from Iran or North Korea, he said that the Russian forces would likely find it difficult to shoot down a short-range missile fired by one of them.

Kornukov said Russia has fallen 25 to 30 years behind the U.S. in air defense technologies and would find it difficult to narrow the gap because of a meltdown of its defense industries which have been plagued by the loss of qualified personnel and key technologies.

"The industrial plants producing high-tech weapons are in a pitiful condition," Kornukov said.

Retired Col.-Gen. Anatoly Sitnov, who formerly was in charge of weapons procurement for the Defense Ministry, said the nation has lost up to 300 key industrial technologies in aviation and air defense. He said that Russian industries are increasingly falling behind in developing new materials, such as heat-resistant graphite needed to build new faster missiles.

Kornukov and Sitnov harshly criticized the government's military reforms, saying they have further crippled the nation's air defense capability by weakening coordination among different branches of the military.

The government has insisted that the reforms helped bolster the nation's military capability.

Kornukov said Russia's five-day war with Georgia in 2008 highlighted the weakness of the Russian military. Russian media said the military accidentally shot down at least one combat jet of its own in the conflict because of confusion and the lack of coordination between forces.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Kornukov said Russia's five-day war with Georgia in 2008 highlighted the weakness of the Russian military. Russian media said the military accidentally shot down at least one combat jet of its own in the conflict because of confusion and the lack of coordination between forces.