Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, announced the establishment of the first S-500 Prometheus equipped air defense regiment on Dec. 18, with Ukrainian intelligence reporting the presence of the system’s launchers near the Kerch Bridge on the occupied Crimean Peninsula last summer.
Gerasimov said that the regiment was nearing full operational readiness, adding that, “This system is unlike anything we have ever deployed before.”
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He said the S-500 could neutralize the most advanced missile threats, from hypersonic weapons to intercontinental ballistic missiles and added “The formation of this regiment represents a major shift in our [Russia’s] strategic defensive capabilities,” which some have interpreted as a direct challenge to NATO.
Ukrainian intelligence sources reported in the summer that the first launchers had been deployed to Crimea in a growing sign of Moscow’s fear that the Kerch Bridge was high on Kyiv’s list of priority targets. This follows Ukrainian ATACMS and Storm Shadow strikes against air defense systems, naval assets and command centers in Crimea.
On Sunday the milblogger Sprinter Observer reported that Russia’s newly formed S-500 air defense regiment had been tasked in its entirety to augment the defense of the Crimean Bridge.
The S-500, development by Russia’s Almaz-Antey state enterprise which began in the late 2000s is said to be able to take on all aerial threats, including stealth aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), hypersonic missiles, and low-orbit satellites. It can be configured for long-range air defense or for missile defense.
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The S-500 and its components are mounted on the BAZ-6909 family of multi-terrain vehicles and include advanced battle management radar systems to support detection and engagement of multiple targets simultaneously.
The system has a claimed maximum operational range of 600 kilometers (375 miles) at altitudes of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) a major improvement on Russia’s current S-300 and S-400 systems as well as exceeding the capabilities of the US Patriot and THAAD systems.
The S-500 regiment consists of 12 launchers, capable of detecting and engaging up to ten separate ballistic missile warheads with a response time of three to four seconds. The S-500 uses the 77N6-N/N1 “hittiles” which are designed for a direct high-speed kinetic strike on the incoming missile rather than a proximity fused fragmentary warhead typical of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
The Crimean bridge is a critical logistical route, enabling the transport of military supplies and civilian goods between Russia and Crimea along with the propaganda value President Vladimir Putin attaches to it.
The Kremlin believes that Ukraine not only intends to destroy the bridge to disrupt military supply lines and operations but to highlight Russia’s inability to maintain control as well as to humiliate Putin; a view that has been reinforced by frequent comments by Ukrainian military and political leaders and previous attacks on the bridge.
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