DUBAI, November 15. /TASS/: Russia’s latest S-550 missile defense system will feature an extended target detection and missile range, which will be able to intercept any targets, Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov told reporters on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow.
"This is work that never stops and will carry on being implemented to boost the detection range and the missile range with the capability of intercepting any target,’’ he said. ‘’That’s the focus of the work on the S-550.’’
Earlier, a source close to the Russian Defense Ministry told TASS that Russia’s armed forces will get the first delivery of the S-550 strategic missile defense system prior to 2025. The hardware for the S-550 has been built, he said. The S-550 will use a mobile launcher with a hypersonic missile, and no sea-borne option is envisioned, the source said.
Sergey Shoigu, the nation’s defense chief, said at a Defense Ministry meeting on November 9 that President Vladimir Putin had pushed for the deliveries of the S-350, S-500 and S-550 air defense systems to the armed forces as he met military top brass and defense industry heads earlier this month.
The S-550 close-range missile interception system had been under development during the Soviet era in 1981-1988 by a company known today as NPO Almaz. The project, along with some others, was terminated as part of Soviet-US defense agreements of that period. Some of the system’s equipment was dismantled after 1992. The project’s groundwork was destroyed after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
