After being hailed as the “star performer” during last year’s intense Indo-Pakistan clash, the S-400 Triumf is undergoing a striking transformation. Ukrainian Intelligence has disclosed that Russia has adapted the S-400 to launch devastating ground attacks on Ukraine.
Earlier this week, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (DIU) disclosed that the Russian Armed Forces have modified up to 17 S-400 launchers to launch strikes against Ukraine.
“As of today, the Russian command uses five special missile groups that are deployed in the Bryansk and Rostov regions of the Russian Federation. The total number of converted launchers of this anti-aircraft missile system, which the enemy can use to strike, is up to 17 units,” the agency told Ukrainian outlet UNIAN.
The DIU identified the munition used with the launcher as the RM-48U guided missile and noted a sharp surge in its use, particularly against the capital city, Kyiv.
While Moscow used just 15 RM-48U missiles per month in the six-month period between January and June, it used 46 in the first 20 days of July, the DIU claimed.
Officials have reportedly linked the uptick in use of RM-48U launched from S-400s to a broader uptick in ballistic missile attacks.
“The decision to increase the number of RM-48U applications is associated with their lower cost compared to Iskander-M missiles, as well as a significant stock of these missiles—about 400 units,” the DIU stated.
The timing appears to be deliberate as Russia has intensified ballistic strikes to exploit gaps in Ukrainian air defenses caused by shortages of Patriot interceptors.
The RM-48U is a Russian missile derived from decommissioned surface-to-air missiles, primarily from the 48N6 missile family. It flies a ballistic trajectory when used offensively and could serve as both a strike weapon and a decoy. It can carry high-explosive fragmentation warheads weighing about 150–180 kilograms, as per Ukrainian media.
Notably, the RM-48U has a smaller warhead, a shorter effective range in many configurations, and poorer accuracy against ground targets than advanced Russian ballistic missiles, such as the Iskander.
Ukrainian officials believe using RM-48U missiles is a cost-effective way to increase the volume and complexity of attacks on Ukraine, particularly because they serve both as limited-strike weapons and as decoys or saturators that force Ukraine to expend scarce, expensive interceptors.
“The RM-48U is essentially a repurposed member of the 48N6 family originally associated with the S-400. Rather than letting older air-defense missiles sit in storage or reach the end of their useful life, Russia is converting them into ground-attack weapons,” Indian Air Force (IAF) veteran, Air Marshal Anil Khosla (retd) told the EurAsian Times, when asked about the surge in use of these missiles.
“Modification makes RM-48U particularly attractive for mass attacks where Russia doesn’t necessarily need every individual missile to be an Iskander. Russia already has the S-400 launcher architecture. It doesn’t have to develop an entirely new missile-launching system from scratch,” he added.
This suggests Moscow is likely using these missiles in a supplementary role, prioritizing other lethal Iskander missiles for precision attacks on high-value targets.
Since RM-48Us follow a ballistic trajectory, Ukraine would probably be forced to use high-end interceptors against them amid dwindling stockpiles.
Producing these missiles is far cheaper and less constrained than scaling true operational-tactical ballistic missiles. In fact, reports suggest that Russia has sharply ramped up production—from over 200 in 2025 to a planned 480 or more in 2026.
Speaking of the numbers, Air Marshal Khosla said, “17 launchers doesn’t mean only 17 missiles. A launcher can fire repeatedly. In this case, the number of launchers required would depend on the RM-48U stockpile, which is estimated to be over 40.”
Notably, the latest development suggests that S-400 is more than just an air defense system. “The conversion essentially turns an existing air-defense asset into a ground-strike asset. Russia appears to be building depth in its ballistic strike arsenal. Russia isn’t replacing Iskander with RM-48U. It’s trying to make the ballistic-missile pool larger by converting its enormous legacy air-defense missile inventory into offensive ballistic missiles,” Air Marshal Khosla told the EurAsian Times.
This turns the S-400, which has been extensively used by Russia to protect key military sites and strategic assets from the Ukrainian onslaught, from a shield to a sword.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Moscow has turned to its air defense launchers to strike Ukraine—it was using potent 48N6DM launched from an S-400 to strike Ukrainian cities from Belarusian territory as far back as 2023, as the EurAsian Times had reported at the time.
S-400 “Killed It” During Indo-Pakistan Conflict
The S-400 is one of the most prized possessions of the Russian military, extensively used for air defense against Ukrainian missile and drone strikes. Previous reports suggested that Russia was pulling out these systems and deploying them to Moscow and a handful of other strategic sites in a bid to fortify them in the face of an unrelenting Ukrainian onslaught.
The S-400’s global reputation, however, was cemented during the intense four-day fighting that erupted in South Asia in May 2025.
Serving as the outermost layer of India’s air-defense network, the S-400 kept Pakistani aircraft deep inside their own territory and forced them to fly low, according to a EurAsian Times correspondent who reported from Adampur in May 2025, where S-400s are deployed.
Indian officials have credited the system with destroying a Saab Erieye-2000 airborne early-warning aircraft—the PAF’s “eye in the sky”—and, more critically, shooting down a JF-17 Thunder, as we reported in detail earlier.
Animesh Patni, a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force who was in charge of the S-400 air defense system, tracked a JF-17 200 kilometers away on May 10, 2025—the last day of the conflict.
He immediately activated the S-400’s primary long-range air-search radar and quickly obtained a solid lock on a target more than 200 kilometers away, deep in Pakistani territory. This was the first real lock the S-400 achieved in India, and it was deployed in combat for the first time since its delivery.
Subsequently, a massive 25-foot missile, costing about $1.5 million, roared off, lighting up the sky with a loud thud and shaking the ground. A few seconds later, Patni succinctly announced a successful strike with the global Air Force call-out, “Splash.”
IAF Chief A.P. Singh later said in October 2025 that this was the longest-ever kill by India.
“This was the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill,” Singh said, adding that the S-400’s 40N6 missile, with a 380-km reach, kept Pakistani aircraft outside their weapons’ release range,” the IAF chief said. “Pakistan was unable to operate even within its own territory.”
At one point during the conflict, Pakistani media claimed that a PAF JF-17 took out an S-400 battery at Adampur Air Base using a CM-400AKG hypersonic missile. However, these claims were later dispelled as “fake news” by India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB).
At the time, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said that “Pakistan has attempted to execute a continued malicious misinformation campaign, with claims of destruction of the Indian S-400 system, destruction of airfields at Surat and Sirsa… India unequivocally rejects these false claims being spread by Pakistan.”
Not just that, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Adampur Air Base—a frontline facility that bore the brunt of Pakistan’s attacks—after the ceasefire. The PM addressed the troops at the base, with the S-400 in the background, officially debunking the Pakistani media’s claim.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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