MOSCOW, (BM) – By the time the vaunted American missiles, exceeding the speed of sound by 17 times and called “super-duper” missiles by President Donald Trump, will be in the US arsenal, Russia will be able to intercept them, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.
Read more: The Trump’s new ‘super-duper’ missile is not a ‘big deal’ in this area – expert
This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine Igor Korotchenko. According to him, the interception of such hypersonic targets will be able to carry out the fifth-generation S-500 Prometheus air defense systems.
This universal long-range and high-altitude interception system has an increased missile defense potential with a radius of destruction of about 600 kilometers.
“Prometheus” is capable of destroying warheads of hypersonic missiles. However, the complexes already existing in Russia can cope with a similar task.
“The Russian S-400 systems and Buk-M3 and Tor-M2 systems that are in service can also effectively hit hypersonic targets in their area of responsibility,” the agency quotes its interlocutor.
The expert also estimated that the United States lagged behind Russia in the field of hypersonic weapons in several years. As an example, he cited the Russian hypersonic complexes “Dagger” and “Zircon” that have already entered service, while American developments are just being tested.
Read more: The US hypersonic weapon development program was stopped by the U.S. Air Force
What gives the Russians reason to believe that their S-500 missile system will be able to cope with such a missile?
Based on the characteristics of the S-500, it will be used as an element of mobile strategic missile defense, Igor Korotchenko, director of the Center for the Analysis of World Arms Trade said on July 3.
So he commented on the words of the commander of the Russian Air Force Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin that the S-500 Prometheus could destroy hypersonic weapons in space.
“The S-500 can destroy virtually all existing and promising aerial targets in near space and in the atmosphere, therefore it can solve strategic missile defense issues. In addition, it is a mobile system, which means it can be quickly deployed to any threatened area,” – explained Korotchenko.
The expert said that the exact characteristics of the S-500 are classified today, but it is known that it is “omnivorous.”
“The S-500 is capable of detecting, tracking as targets traditional for such systems – aircraft of all types, tactical and operational-tactical missiles, ballistic missiles, as well as drones and promising hypersonic missiles. The system operates in a wide range: in the atmosphere and near space, on heights of the order of 270-300 kilometers,” said Korotchenko.
Read more: Russian hypersonic weapons will become the ‘killer’ of US aircraft carriers
According to him, the S-500 is a fully automated system, “combat work, target detection and tracking, missile selection for use is carried out, in fact, without the participation of the operator, his task is only to confirm the launch.”
Competitors of similar systems may appear no earlier than in 15-20 years, until that time in the West they will not be able to create such technologies, predicts Korotchenko. “The development of analogues of the S-500 is in the initial stage, and we, in fact, have begun the stage of field tests.”
The Ministry of Defense stated that the first S-500 set could be transferred to the troops in 2021, then, after several years, mass production will be launched. For this, Almaz-Antey [producer] put into operation three new sites in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov, Korotchenko added.
One of the competitors of the S-500, according to the expert, is the American mobile anti-ballistic missile complex THAAD, “but its capabilities are limited only by the atmospheric interception of medium-range missiles, while the S-500 is a multifunctional system.”
German experts even called S-500 “system of the future”
The Russian anti-aircraft missile system S-500 “Prometheus” is ahead of its western counterparts by 15-20 years, writes the German publication Focus on July 9.
“Invisible aircraft will also be an easy target for the latest complex,” the article says. The publication quotes the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force, who said that Prometheus will be the first generation of space defense systems.
Read more: Are Russian missiles capable to strike an American aircraft carrier?
“The range of the complex is 600 kilometers, which suggests that it can even be used to protect against meteorites and other celestial bodies,” Focus said.
In addition, the publication cites the words of the director of the Center for the Analysis of World Trade in Arms, Igor Korotchenko, that Prometheus can destroy any target in near space and atmosphere, and at the same time it is quickly transferred to any direction.
The S-500 Prometheus (Triumfator-M development center) belongs to the new generation of ground-to-air anti-aircraft missile systems, and is a universal complex of long-range and high-altitude interception with increased missile defense potential. A promising system is capable of destroying not only ballistic, but also aerodynamic targets (planes, helicopters), as well as cruise missiles.
Is it possible that Trump’s “super-duper” missile will still surprise the world?
The fact is that since US President Donald Trump announced in May this year that America was creating a “super-duper” missile, we know very little about it.
According to Trump, the rocket will be 17 times faster than the speed of sound. “We call it an ultra-duper missile. And I heard it’s 17 times faster than it is now,” Trump told the White House.
Read more: An expert explains capabilities of the Russian S-500 missile system
According to him, at the same time, Russia has missiles 5 times faster than conventional ones, and China is developing missiles that can move 5-6 times faster than existing models. Without specifying which missiles he had in mind, Trump stressed that the missile developed by the United States is the fastest in the world.
Russian expert Viktor Murakhovsky believes that the “super-duper” missile is a hypersonic missile AGM-183A, designed for the benefit of the US Air Force.
“As far as I understand, we are talking about a hypersonic missile, which the US Air Force is developing under the AGM-183A program. “According to their calculations, it should reach a maximum speed of Mach 20, and its projected shelling will be around 900 km,” Murahovski said.
He noted that there is no big breakthrough: well-known materials and technologies are used. “It’s actually an aerobatic missile starting with an air carrier. It accelerates with a degree of solid fuel and then the hypersonic unit itself flies on a ballistic trajectory,” explained the expert.
As Murachowski notes, this raises great doubts that the rocket’s mobile warhead is capable of maintaining a high speed at an altitude of less than 4-5 kilometers and most likely the stated 17-20 sound speeds are calculated for the flight of a rocket with an accelerator in the stratosphere [at an altitude of over 10 km], where the atmosphere is much less dense. “That is, although such claims about such speeds are, of course, more in the field of PR,” he said.
Read more: Russia is Putting the S-500 Air Defense Systems Into Operation
The editor-in-chief of Arsenal magazine also noted that the United States was unlikely to manage a controlled flight of the AGM-183A at a speed of about 20 sound speeds.
In early February this year, it became known that the US Presidential Administration Donald Trump proposes to spend $3.2 billion on the continued development of hypersonic missiles in fiscal year 2021.
In the second half of March, the Pentagon announced a successful test in Hawaii of a rocket capable of moving at a speed several times greater than the speed of sound.
What to expect in the event of such a collision? Which of the two weapon systems will come out better and the ultimate winner?
The main problem is that so far the world knows little about both the S-500 missile system and the Pentagon’s super-duper supersonic missile.
There is unconfirmed information that the Russians tested this missile system in a real combat situation and in Syria. The only thing we know for sure is that the S-500 was the first purely Russian air defense system after the Soviet era.
At the same time, we know that its supposedly older analogue – S-400 is a very successful project, although it is actually an updated version of the Soviet S-300.
Read more: Russian S-500 missile systems will be able to destroy hypersonic and space targets
The S-400 has been tested several times in Syria and the good performance of the missile system together with the radar technology make it an attractive product for international markets.
Ie the Russians are clearly successfully developing their traditions in the field of air defense, so that, with less doubt and skepticism, we can relate to the capabilities of the S-500.
On the other hand, the Americans have made several failed attempts in the last year to create a successful supersonic missile. He knows from experience that many of President Trump’s words should be seen as a PR move to keep the confidence of the average African high, while at the same time raising questions among America’s opponents and friends.
The outcome is unclear, but the answer will come soon, as the Russians have already begun to gradually introduce the S-500 among their military units. Ie sooner or later this system will take part in exercises and training, some of which will not be simulated.
Russia will still build on its largest test site at the moment – Syria.
Read more: Russian S-500 missile system prepares for an early start of deliveries to the army
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