Even As India Awaits S-400 Delivery, Russia Planning To Deploy Latest S-500 Prometey Missile Defence System

Even as India is in the process of getting the Russian S-400 air defence missile system, Russia is planning to arm its defence forces with the latest S-500 Prometey anti-ballistic missile system, reports Zee News.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov on Tuesday (25 June) said that the long-range S-500 missile system will be ready for deployment in the armed forces of Russia in a few years.

According to the report, the United States intelligence agencies have claimed that the S-500 missile system, during its trials, hit targets at a distance of 481.2 km, about 80 km more than the previous record.

"Successful preliminary tests allowed the Russian Defence Ministry to make the decision to shorten the period of the start of serial supplies to the troops of this air defence missile system. As a result, air defence missile regiments will start receiving S-500 systems already in the coming years", Borisov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS.

As per the report, the S-500, with an operational range of 600 km, will form the backbone of the Russian anti-missile defence system along with the S-400 missile defence system.

India had in October last year signed a $5.2 billion deal with Russia to procure S-400 missile defence system. The delivery of the air defence system is expected to start by the end of 2020.