Realities of Rearmament

RIA Novosti yesterday quoted a VVKO spokesman who indicated a second battery of Pantsir-S anti-aircraft gun-missile systems will go into service this fall around Moscow.  For the record, he stated:

“At present, alongside an A-150 missile defense [PRO] division, two    S-400 anti-aircraft missile regiments in two-battalion configurations, deployed in Elektrostal and Dmitrov, provide Moscow with anti-air and anti-missile defense.  One of them already has a ’Pantsir-S’ battery in its composition, in September-October, the second regiment will also receive the same battery complement.”

The spokesman added that, in August, the new Pantsir-S battery, along with its  S-400 regiment at Dmitrov, will be in Ashuluk to perform ‘test’ live firings against low-altitude targets.

Novosti has some video of the Pantsir as does a background piece by Arms-Expo.ru.

Let’s add things up as best we can.

First Deputy Defense Minister Sukhorukov has said the army will get 28 Pantsir-S systems in 2012.  The VVS CINC said there would be two more S-400 regiments (for a total of four) before the end of 2011.  But, there are, as the VVKO spokesman says, still only two.  The CINC also said the next six Pantsir-S systems would be for the Moscow area.  The first four went to Novorossiysk.

Recall there was some question whether ten delivered in 2010 were for Russian forces or some foreign customer.

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Russia Upgrades Air Defenses

By Maxim Pyadushkin, Moscow

The Russian air force took delivery of the first Pantsyr-S short-range air-defense systems in March. The Pantsyrs will gradually replace the old Tunguska antiaircraft weapons. The first 10 systems were released from KBP Instrument Design Bureau’s assembly site in Tula and transported to Alabino, near Moscow, and will be part of the Victory Day parade in Red Square on May 9.

What’s unusual is that the first Pantsyr systems are being deployed to protect high-end surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) against aircraft, missiles and bombs.

Характеристики зенитного комплекса "Панцирь-С"

ВВС России приняли на вооружение первые десять зенитных ракетно-пушечных комплексов "Панцирь-С", сообщил РИА Новости пресс-секретарь управления пресс-службы и информации Минобороны РФ по ВВС подполковник Владимир Дрик.

Комплекс был создан в 1994 году и впервые продемонстрирован на авиасалоне в Москве "МАКС-1995". С того времени комплекс был значительно модернизирован, последняя известная модификация демонстрировалась на "МАКС-2007". Предполагается, что в будущем "Панцирь-С" полностью заменит в российской армии ЗРПК "Тунгуска".

Зенитный ракетно-пушечный комплекс "Панцирь-С" предназначен для противовоздушной обороны малоразмерных военных и административно-промышленных объектов и районов от самолетов, вертолетов, крылатых ракет и высокоточного оружия, а также для усиления группировок ПВО при отражении массированных ударов с воздуха.

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