The Russian S-400 lengthy vary air defence system has gained rising consideration in 2025 as a result of each its ongoing use in fight operations within the Ukrainain theatre, in addition to its first fight within the service of an export shopper because it performed a central position within the Indian air marketing campaign towards Pakistan in Could. The Russian Aerospace Forces have invested a number of occasions as closely procuring S-400s over the previous 20 years than they’ve procuring all sorts of fighter plane mixed, with over 30 regiments now in service forming the spine of the nation’s air defence capabilities. CEO of the Almaz-Antey Group accountable for creating the system, Yan Novikov, in a current interview shed additional mild on the system’s options and fight report, observing: “The parameters of its effectiveness have been confirmed in precise fight, and no overseas air defence system can rival the S-400 in its class to date.”
Commenting particularly on the modernisation potential of the S-400, which permits it to rapidly be tailored to countering rising threats, Novikov noticed:
“The world at present is experiencing a quickly evolving scientific and technological revolution, with the defence trade being considered one of its hottest spots. The velocity of change leaves us no room for delay in responding to new challenges. One such response is the large modernisation potential of the S-400 air defence missile system, which permits us to rapidly mitigate rising threats in the course of the particular army operation. Owing to this potential, the Triumph has acquired new capabilities and properties which might be usually uncharacteristic of air defence programs.”
Concluding remarks on the S-400, the Almaz-Antey CEO famous: “The S-400 Triumf is among the world’s most superior and famend surface-to-air missile programs. Its operational vary and capability to utilise completely different missile varieties make the Triumf essentially the most highly effective air defence system.”
Though the S-400 entered service in 2007, it has continued to be incrementally modernised, with a significant milestone within the enhancement of the system being the mixing of the 40N6 lengthy vary surface-to-air missile, which is estimated to have occurred round 2018. The missile can have interaction targets as much as 400 kilometres away, putting targets over the earth’s curvature by utilizing focusing on knowledge both from ahead deployed floor primarily based radars, or from airborne radars, resembling these carried by A-50U AEW&C programs. The missile’s two half trajectory first sees it ascend into area to altitudes of near 30,000 meters, earlier than descending utilizing this focusing on knowledge to strike plane at altitudes between 30,000 metres and 5 meters off the bottom. The missile has been efficiently fight examined towards each Ukrainian and Pakistani targets.
Giant scale manufacturing of the S-400 has been facilitated by main investments within the rejuvenation of the Russian surface-to-air missile trade, which was authorised by the Kremlin within the yr 2000. Three main new amenities constructed primarily to permit for expanded manufacturing embody a brand new wing of the Obukhov Plant, the Avitek Plant in Kirov which was throughly modernised, and the NMP Plant in Nizhniy Novgorod. These amenities had been solely prepared for giant scale manufacturing within the mid-2010s, nevertheless, as a result of main delays, with deliveries having accelerated considerably since then. No successor to the S-400 is understood to be below growth, though new radars and missile varieties are anticipated to proceed to be built-in, together with a rumoured longer ranged successor to the 40N6 which is anticipated to develop into operational within the mid-2030s.
