According to a recent report by the Russian "Star" magazine, military reconnaissance activities by relevant countries around Russia are becoming increasingly rampant, sparking ongoing discussions. For example, the Boeing RC-135W strategic reconnaissance aircraft often hovers over the Black Sea near the Russian border, while the US RQ-4B "Global Hawk" stays over the Crimean coast for several hours, continuously collecting intelligence on Russia's military activities and strategic target deployment.

Recently, the United States has resorted to any means necessary to test Russia's response to potential threats. Navy formations have entered the Black Sea waters, including the missile destroyer Porter, the oil tanker John Rensol, and the command ship Mount Whitney. In the past month, the US Air Force's B-1B strategic bombers have repeatedly approached 100 kilometers from the Russian border, and the E-8C combat command aircraft have also circled around to provide target indications for missile strikes. Given that the Porter missile destroyer is equipped with 90 Tomahawk cruise missile launchers, this is not a coincidence. But they cannot pose a real threat because Russia's surface to air missiles can completely annihilate them.

Today, Russia's air defense and anti missile system can resist any threat and ensure the defense of borders from far to near in any direction. However, the US Congress has approved five hypersonic weapon development plans, posing new challenges. Especially at the end of September this year, DARPA claimed to have successfully test fired hypersonic missiles. In the near future, hypersonic missiles will replace the famous "Tomahawk" on American destroyers since the Cold War. The United States is intensifying research and development in the field of hypersonic technology.

If we carefully study the above plan of the Pentagon, we will find that Russia should make a decision in the shortest possible time, and the air defense and anti missile system should have excellent performance, at least to resist attacks from missiles with a speed of 5 Mach. What should be done to strengthen the air defense and anti missile system? Not long ago, Russian President Putin said, 'We should develop our country's air defense and anti missile system ahead of schedule and provide the armed forces with S-350, S-500, and S-550.'.

What changes will the S-550 bring to air defense and missile defense? What is the development prospect of the responsibility zone for surface to air missiles and countermeasures against hypersonic missiles? Why didn't Putin mention the S-400 when listing domestically produced air defense and anti missile systems? Regarding the above-mentioned hot topics, a reporter from Star Weekly interviewed the renowned Russian military expert Knutov.

——The rapidly advancing aerospace defense system is one of the pillars of the national equipment development plan, determining the appearance of the Russian military. Russia already has the world-renowned excellent surface to air missile S-400, and next year the S-500 will also achieve large-scale production. It is outstanding and can strike targets in near space. Why bother developing the recently exposed new S-550 surface to air missile?

——The S-550, as an anti missile system, has been developed since the 1980s. It is a mobile system used to destroy ballistic missile warheads and low orbit satellites. But at that time, due to insufficient funding, the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, and other issues, the project came to a standstill. It is now apparent that it is possible to restart this project using new technologies.

The development of this system is urgent because in the next 3-5 years, the United States will develop hypersonic weapons and achieve deployment, and soon deploy medium - and short-range missiles in Europe, South Korea, and Japan. This requires us not only to have efficient systems, but also highly automated systems. This means that an automated system should be used to detect targets, intercept and track them, and launch missiles. Of course, it must be under human control.

The automation system depends on the lightning fast deployment of missiles in the future. People are never able to react to similar situations. In order to avoid situations where there is no time to intercept, the speed at which missiles and radars detect and track targets, as well as the level of equipment automation, must reach a high level.

It is necessary to develop a comprehensive system that covers the entire country in an automated state. Today, I believe that this is a life critical priority task. All radar information should be sent to a certain computer center in an automated state for processing: allocation, interception, and annihilation of targets. To reiterate, all of this should be done with minimal human involvement, as participating in corrections at high speeds will inevitably lead to prolonged reaction times.

It should be pointed out that the United States and NATO are also developing similar systems. Therefore, it is highly likely that the system under development will assist us in carrying out anti missile missions to defend against important national targets: large cities, industrial and administrative centers, and if necessary, can also provide cover for certain troop clusters. Therefore, every effort should be made to develop this system.

——What do you think should be the responsibility zone for future surface to air missiles? Can it intercept hypersonic missiles?

——I believe that this system should have anti missile capabilities. It can intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles, low orbit satellites, and hypersonic weapons. We already have a similar system. For example, the S-300V is a fleet air defense missile system with a similar target air defense system - the S-300P. But in reality, it's just a similar name and a completely different system. The S-300V consists of two parts: air defense and anti missile. The anti missile part is already a separate system, from S-300V to S-300V4. Its anti missile component, known as the "Abakan" surface to air missile, has been publicly showcased at the "Military-2020" forum.

Today, Egypt and Venezuela have already purchased S-300V, and other countries have shown strong interest, but the entire system is expensive. The standalone "Abakan" surface to air missile is much cheaper, and can even use a car chassis instead of a tracked chassis. This accounts for half of the total system cost. It can be purchased and compatible with the previous "Beech-M3". This led to the emergence of a system that can both resist aircraft and intercept ballistic missiles - the S-300V4.

It is likely that the S-500 will also follow the same path - separating the anti missile part of the S-500 and achieving compatibility with the S-400 or other systems. This will enable the completion of air defense and anti missile missions. At present, we can only speculate because there is no official news. But this can be a meaningful solution, reducing costs, simplifying, and quickly covering the vast territory of the country from an anti missile perspective.

——Will this enhance the anti missile capability?

——Yes, I only talk about anti missile, because today with the deployment of medium and short-range ballistic missiles and the emergence of hypersonic weapons, this has become a priority direction.

——Not referring to air defense missions?

——The air defense has been resolved today. S-400、S-350、 The "Buk-M3" and improved "Armor" are responsible for solving air defense problems. In addition, there are a series of team owned air defense systems, such as the Dole-M2 and S-300V4. Therefore, the system that can solve the air defense problem constitutes a system that is constantly improving and has not stopped moving forward.

As for the anti missile mission, the number of missiles targeting Russia has increased several times recently, and enhancing the anti missile system is urgent.

——I don't know if I understand correctly, but it is necessary to enhance the performance of surface to air missiles and increase the number of surface to air missiles in the ammunition base of the missile system?

——This is not just about increasing the number of missiles, although the quantity is indeed very important. In the previous phase of the Naqqa conflict, the Azerbaijani army, under the guidance of Türkiye's advisers, widely used ordinary remote control munitions in the first phase, and fired suicide drones with explosives at ground targets. The Armenian army successfully shot it down, but consumed expensive missiles to kill secondary, low-cost targets. Quickly, when the Armenian surface to air missile forces discovered a shortage of missiles, Azerbaijan's "Bayktar" unmanned aerial vehicle entered into combat and launched an attack on the air defense system. At this time, there were almost no missiles available for the Armenian "Doer" and it was quickly annihilated.

In December 1972, during the "Defender II" campaign, Vietnam quickly depleted almost all missiles, and a few days later, the B-52 became the dominant force in the air. Therefore, in addition to having a large number of ammunition bases in the ground to air missile launch device, high-speed, super maneuverable, and ultra precise missiles are also required, which can kill targets according to the principle of kinetic energy collision or "bullet to bullet". This method can prevent accidental explosions of hypersonic ballistic or cruise missile warheads. In order to annihilate new targets, new missiles are needed. With the emergence of new missiles, it is possible to consider establishing new air defense or anti missile systems.

——It is noteworthy that according to the research results of the United States, the Pentagon can only master "slow" hypersonic weapons recently, that is, their missiles can only accelerate to 5-7 Mach. And Russia already has tangible hypersonic weapons: the "Zircon" anti-ship cruise missile and the "Dagger" air launched missile, which can reach Mach 10. The question is: What are the limits of ground to air missile equipment when countering hypersonic weapons?

——Of course, there are limitations to surface to air missile systems in this regard. If we say that the United States is currently achieving a speed of 5-8 Mach, today our surface to air missile system can intercept such targets. For this purpose, we have specifically developed target missiles that can simulate the situation in the air and the flight of such targets.

If we talk about intercepting targets with a speed of 15 Mach, we need to develop new physics based weapons. For example, lasers and electromagnetic weapons. Correspondingly, it is necessary to establish a system that can efficiently destroy ultra high speed targets.

——I understand now. President Putin pointed out that the advanced development of China's air defense and anti missile system is of great significance, and we need to provide the armed forces with S-350, S-500, and S-550. Why didn't our president mention the S-400 this time?

——Because the S-400 has already been installed and exported abroad. Not only in our country, but also in China and Türkiye, India is preparing to take over. The S-400 has excellent performance, but it belongs to today's system, and the President is talking about tomorrow's system. Therefore, attention should be paid to the advanced development of domestic systems. For example, the United States and Türkiye have long positioned the S-350 as a "cruise missile killer".

The S-500 is a unique system that can strike aircraft, low orbit satellites, and intercept various hypersonic and ballistic missiles.

I find it difficult to say about the new S-550 surface to air missile currently under development because there is very little information about it. But I believe that this system first targets the weapons that the United States is developing and will soon deploy in large quantities. I said, this is a hypersonic missile, a medium to short-range missile.

Source: Frontiers of Maritime Defense