In what would be a debate involving the ‘undetectable force’ meeting the aerial ‘annihilator’, Russia’s most advanced S-400 defense missile systems coming up against US’ fifth-generation ‘invisible’ F-35s is often touted as the ultimate showdown in the modern warfare.
And, in what was a brief glimpse of things to come ahead, Russia’s military this week conducted live-fire exercises for its S-400 “Trimuf” surface-to-air missile systems as part of the ongoing military drills in the nation’s south Astrakhan Oblast Region.
A statement issued by the press office of the Central Military District to TASS Russian News Agency said,- “As part of the practice stage with a live-fire exercise, the teams of S-400 ‘Triumf’ systems and Pantsyr-S1 anti-aircraft missile/gun launchers repelled a notional enemy’s simulated massive missile and air strike by launching missiles. As a result, all the targets designated for their destruction were struck in accordance with the required procedures.”
Reportedly, the struck down targets which were used to create a combat training environment and for the simulation of the air attack, were none other than Strizh-M, Favorit and Kaban aerial missile targets and Armavir low-altitude target missiles.
The drills which were conducted by the Air Defence Division of the Central Military District involved over 450 Russian military personnel and two hundred pieces of military hardware, with the participating combat teams clearing all theory tests in technical, tactical and missile firing measures.
Meanwhile, the live-fire exercise conducted was part of its large-scale Air Defence Drills, which involved over 10,000 troops.
“During the drills, the units of anti-aircraft missile regiments also went on combat duty for air defense in a new positioning area, made a march to temporary on-duty positions after overcoming notionally contaminated terrain sections and carried out a set of measures for camouflaging combat hardware,” said Central Military District’s press office.
According to experts talking to the EurAsian Times, Russian would definitely have liked to test their S-400s against American stealth jets, mainly the F-35’s. However, there is no doubt that the S-400s are being constantly tested against Russian stealth jets.
Considered the most advanced of their kind, the Russian-built S-400 is the most modern long and medium-range surface-to-air missile system designed to detect and destroy aircraft and cruise and ballistic missiles, while also being more than capable of taking out ground-based installations.
The systems which entered service in the year 2007 are designed to engage targets at a range of up to 400 kilometers, up to six times the speed of light, at heights of up to 30 kilometers and can also launch 40N6 missiles (long-range, hypersonic, Surface-to-Air Missiles) to engage low maneuverable aerodynamic targets.
They are also said to be the only defense systems capable of taking on the ‘untraceable’ US-made F-35 stealth fighters.
The F-35s are one of the most sought-after fighter jets on the face of the planet, mainly due to its ability to go untraceable on enemy radars. Labeled ‘invisible’ on the number of occasions by US President Donald Trump, the F-35s have been intricately designed to use stealth technology such as radar-absorbing paint, materials, and the angular lines of its fuselage, which enables them to reduce heat signature and electromagnetic emissions to evade radar systems.
However, the S-400s are uniquely designed to counter its stealth technology which masters in identifying and tracking stealth aircraft and hypersonic targets, almost nullifying the F-35’s most renowned feature.
It has been one of the reasons why Donald Trump is unable to bear the idea of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin widely exporting it to other nations, with the US even imposed economic sanctions on countries for buying the defense systems.
