Russia’s advanced S-500 air defense system could be delivered to the military as soon as 2020, five years earlier than previously disclosed, Russia’s deputy defense minister has said.
Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said last month that the S-500, an upgrade of the currently deployed S-400, was initially scheduled for delivery in 2025 after preliminary tests in 2020. In Monday’s interview with a subsidiary of the state-owned Rostec industrial conglomerate, Krivoruchko noted that air defense troops tested the S-500 using “new and unparalleled missiles” in 2019.
“We’re confident that the new system will be ready for delivery to the armed forces in 2020,” Krivoruchko told the Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies’ (KRET) monthly magazine.
The S-500 Prometheus is touted as being capable of intercepting stealth warplanes. The surface-to-air missile was reported to have carried out the world’s longest missile test in 2018.
President Vladimir Putin said at the time that the S-500 is capable of operating in “ultra-high altitudes including near space.”
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