S-400 Triumf missile defense systems to deploy around Moscow from 1 July

Moscow: The S-400 Triumf (NATO codename SA-21 Growler) missile defense system will go on combat duty around Moscow from July 1, colonel-general Alexander Zelin the commander of the Russian Air Force has said. The S-400 Triumf, developed by the Almaz Central Design Bureau, is an upgraded version of the S-300 family.

"On July 1, one battalion of S-400 missile defense systems will be put on combat duty to defend the airspace of Moscow and Central Russia," colonel-general Alexander Zelin said. According to Zelin, the battalion will go into active duty once it completes practice at an air force range.

The Truimf has been designed to intercept and destroy airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), or twice the range of the MIM-104 Patriot, and 2.5 times that of the S-300PMU-2.

Last month, colonel-general Yury Solovyov, commander of the Air Defense Forces Special Command (former Moscow Military District Air Defense Command), had said that the system could also be used for limited purposes in missile and space defense, but that it was not intended to destroy intercontinental ballistic missiles.

He did say, however, that the system was capable of destroying stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles with an effective range of up to 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and a speed of up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) per second.

The Russian Air Defense Forces, a division of the Russian Air Force, currently deploy more than 30 regiments equipped with S-300 missile systems. These will be gradually replaced with S-400 systems.