By Peter Barker
Russia’s military says it has successfully put its missile-defense system to the test, by thwarting a simulated large-scale enemy aerial attack.
The military exercise was held at the Kapustin Yar range in the Astrakhan region in southern Russia. Footage of the drill was released by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on Oct. 29.
The exercise involved the use of large-scale air-defense units and anti-aircraft missile systems at long, medium and short ranges, the ministry said in a statement released a day earlier.
A large-scale simulated attack was neutralized by a layered air-defense system made up of a variety of complexes including the S-300V4, Buk-M3 and Tor-M2, the defense ministry said.
The simulated attack came from high-speed missiles, cruise missiles and attack helicopters.
The footage shows the moment the Russian weapons complexes respond to the threat and fire several rounds of anti-air missiles.
The first layer of the defense system was made up of S-300V4 long-range anti-aircraft missile system battalions which took out aeroballistic missiles descending from an altitude of more than 150 kilometers (about 93 miles)
The S-300V4 missile-defense system is considered to be one of the most effective systems of its type in the world. It costs an estimated $300 million per unit and has been sold to several militaries, including China and Turkey.
The second layer of defense was composed of Buk-M3 medium-range air-defense systems and a Tor-M2 short-range anti-aircraft missile system battalion.
These two systems are designed to provide protection from enemy cruise missiles flying at very low altitudes.
The Buk missile system is a self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system developed by the Soviet Union in 1980. It is capable of bringing down cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles. It has an operational range of 30 kilometers (roughly 18.5 miles).
The Tor missile system is a short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for destroying helicopters, airplanes, precision-guided cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Tor system “carried out combat launches against group air targets simulating the raid of a ‘swarm’ of unmanned aerial vehicles of a conventional enemy at a distance of up to 15 kilometers (9.3 miles),” the ministry reported.
At the back of the defense system, Typhoon armored vehicles from a Typhoon-Air Defense unit were positioned to take down targets at extremely close range of under six kilometers at altitudes below 3,500 meters (11,482 feet).
More than 1,000 servicemen and 300 units of weapons and military equipment were involved in the training exercise, and all targets were successfully hit, the ministry said.
Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Kristen Butler
The post VIDEO: Air TNT: Russia Puts West On Warning With Massive Show Of Anti-Air Attack Firepower appeared first on Zenger News.
