Russia used S-400 SAMs in tandem with an A-50 aircraft in Ukraine to fire unique missiles, Military Watch Magazine reports. They are capable of hitting targets at low altitudes and long distances. No other air defence system in the world has such capabilities.
On 7 November, it was reported that the Russian Armed Forces used the S-400 long-range SAM system on the Ukrainian frontline to fire active radar homing missiles at the terminal, and combined it with the onboard A-50 long-range radar detection and control (LDR&C) aircraft to increase situational awareness.
The description of the missile used exactly matches the capabilities of the 40N6, a unique class of missile used by the S-400 for better guidance at ranges of up to 400 kilometres.
The missile’s unique trajectory, climbing to extreme altitude in near space before descending to the target, provides it with unprecedented over-the-horizon engagement capabilities and allows it to neutralise targets close to the kill limits at a height of only 5 metres from the ground. This enables S-400 units to engage aircraft and cruise missiles at low altitudes and long distances, something no non-Russian air defence system can do due to the limitations of the Earth’s curvature for munitions fired along conventional trajectories: a low-flying target is below the horizon line, i.e. out of range of locators.
Although that 40H6 was accepted into service in October 2018 and has been delivered to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) since 2019, the 40H6 is not known to have been battle tested immediately prior to its use in Ukraine in early November, according to Military Watch Magazine.
Due to the 40H6’s long distance from the radars of the S-400 system itself on the final leg of its trajectory, pairing this missile with aircraft would seem particularly valuable due to the advantage of radars high in the air providing guidance data on low-altitude targets to ensure accuracy. A source close to the Russian Ministry of Defence reported combat use of the missile and its pairing with the A-50:
“Russia used S-400 Triumf system in tandem with the A-50 early warning and control aircraft in the special military operation in Ukraine. S-400s launched anti-aircraft missiles with active homing heads. The system’s use against enemy aircraft was successful.”
The missiles were fired at maximum ranges and hit targets at an altitude of about 1,000 metres. It is reported that “new warheads” were used in the battle.
Although Russia’s fleet of A-50 VFR aircraft is relatively small and, despite recent modernisations, still has limited operational capability, Russian fighters on average carry radars almost twice as large as their Western counterparts. This not only provides a very high degree of combat readiness and situational awareness, but also allows them to provide similarly targeting data. The MiG-31 interceptor is equipped with the largest radar among tactical combat aircraft, more than six times larger than the AN/APG-68 radar of the US F-16, which was specifically designed to provide very high situational awareness of low-flying targets. This made it the optimal airborne sensor for interfacing with long-range ground-based air defence systems – particularly units using 40H6 missiles, Military Watch Magazine reports.
Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have claimed that the country produces more surface-to-air missiles than all other countries combined, and while this claim remains controversial because of the unknown extent of Chinese and North Korean production, it is clear that Russia has a comfortable lead over the combined production capacity of all NATO countries. This has allowed it to supply S-400s to both Belarus and India (and at an extremely high rate) while building up its own forces and acquiring missiles to replace those used up during operations in Ukraine.
This scale of production was largely achieved through the construction of three major new facilities, including the new wing of the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg, the thoroughly modernised Avitek plant in Kirov and the NMP plant in Nizhny Novgorod. This long process began back in the 2000s and allowed the facilities to roll out mass production of the S-400 in the second half of the next decade, from around 2016.
The large scale of production of surface-to-air missiles allowed several new regiments of S-400s to be ready for service each year – along with the production of other long-range systems, including the S-300V4 and S-500. The S-400’s combination of high mobility and high situational awareness with a very long engagement range has enabled it to threaten enemy warplanes over very wide areas, as well as providing wide area defence against all types of tactical missile attacks, including missiles flying at low hypersonic speeds, Military Watch Magazine.
The new S-500 system has extended these capabilities, and despite being less optimised to defeat tactical combat aircraft, it provides defensive capabilities against intercontinental-range ballistic missiles, satellites, spaceplanes and faster classes of hypersonic weapons, and has a huge range of up to 600 km, eclipsing even the S-400 with the 40N6.
The number of S-400 divisions in Russia is expected to exceed 60 by 2027-2028, but all existing units have already been equipped with 40N6 missiles, with production rates estimated to exceed 300 per year. This reflects the fact that for decades, Russia has allocated several times more funds for the acquisition of ground-based air defence assets than for the acquisition of tactical combat aircraft.
