Armed with three types of missiles to create a layered defence, the S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler) is an air defence missile system developed by Almaz Central Design Bureau of Russia. Essentially an upgrade of the S-300 series of Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) systems, the system, April 2007 onwards replaced the S-300P and S-200 air defence systems of the Russian Army. Likely to enter in service of Indian Air Force (IAF), the proposed $ 5.5 billion deal has been cleared by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). Capable of simultaneous engagement of 36 targets, the system can engage all types of aerial targets including aircraft, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), and ballistic and cruise missiles within the range of 400 km, at an altitude of up to 30 km. The rapidly deployable system again is standalone in nature and integrates a multifunction radar, autonomous detection and targeting systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, launchers, and Command & Control (C&C) centre.
The S-400 air defence missile system uses four new missile types in addition to the missiles of the S-300PMU system. The first missile inducted for the system was the 48N6DM (48N6E3) missile. It is an improved variant of the 48N6M with powerful propulsion system to destroy airborne targets within the range of 250 km. The Active-Radar Homing (ARH) 40N6 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) of the S-400 has a claimed range of 400km and in addition specifically targets hostile airborne force multipliers at great distances like Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C), Joint-Surveillance Target Attack Radar (J-STARS), and support jammer platforms. To engage with direct impact at fast moving targets such as fighter aircraft with a high hit probability, the S-400 Triumph also launches 9M96E and 120 km ranged 9M96E2 medium range SAM systems. These SAM systems can engage targets flying as low as 10 metres.
The 55K6E C&C system of the S-400 Triumf is based on the Ural-532301 mobile command post vehicle, equipped with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) consoles to process the air space surveillance data of the individual batteries. It controls and monitors long-range surveillance radar, tracks airborne threats, prioritises the threats, and coordinates other batteries. The fire control and target tracking radar of the S-400 is the 92N6E (NATO Codename: Gravestone). The radar is based on the MZKT-7930 8×8 vehicle. The 96L6 Cheese Board 3D surveillance and tracking radar is optionally carried by the same vehicle when the S-400 battery is deployed autonomously. The 91N6E Big Bird acquisition and battle management radar of the S-400 is based on the 8×8 trailer and capable of detecting and tracking aircraft, rotorcraft, cruise missiles, guided missiles, drones and ballistic missiles within the distance of 600km. It can simultaneously track up to 300 targets and engage 72 of them. India may also opt for integration of the S-400 system with IAF operated EL/M-2080 Green Pine and super Green Pine radar system. The ELTA Electronics subsidiary of IAI developed the EL/M-2080 Green Pine Early Warning & Fire Control (EW & FC) radar for the Arrow Anti-Tactical Ballistic Missile (ATBM) system. The Green Pine radar has a proven track record demonstrated in over twenty successful ballistic missile intercepts. The radar includes the trailer mounted antenna array, the power generator, a cooling system and a control centre. Developed from the ELTA Music phased array radar, Green Pine is an dual mode, electronically scanned, solid state, phased array radar operating at L-band in the range 500 MHz to 1,000 MHz, weighs 60 t and comprises of 2,000 transmit-receive modules. Green Pine is said to be capable of tracking ballistic missiles from a range of up to 500 km and is able to track targets up to speeds over 3 km/s while intercept of the attacking missile may occur 90 km away at an altitude of 10 to 50 km. The long range of Green Pine radar system ensures that a second shot can be taken at the incoming ballistic missile if the first shot fails to secure the "kill". India placed an order and received its first Green Pine Early Warning & Fire Control (EW & FC) radar in 2001 and has since been integrated with the country’s indigenous missile defence system as the Swordfish radar system. The Super Green Pine, also operated by India, has an enhanced tracking range of 800 to 900 km. The S-400 SP85TE2 launchers are based on the BAZ-64022 6×6 tractor truck or MAZ-79100 series Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicle. The TEL vehicle can carry up to four launch tubes holding a mix of missiles.
A follow on system, the S-500, according to a CNBC report citing United States intelligence officials, “the S-500 surface-to-air missile system successfully struck a target 299 miles away, which the United States assessed is 50 miles further than any known test.” The CNBC report suggests that the missile used to hit the target was a version of S-300V4’s long-range heavy NPO Novator 9M82MD missile, which has a range of 250 nautical miles and a speed of about Mach 7.5. However, it is more likely that the missile in question is a derivative of the 250 nautical mile range 40N6 missile used on the S-400. In either case, the fact remains that the S-500 has demonstrated exceptional capabilities. When used against air breathing targets, the S-500 can use the 48N6 family of missiles, which weight about two tons and have an effective range of up to 250. For longer-range targets, the system uses version of the 40N6 with higher performance. It also employ the shorter range and lighter weight 9M96 and 9M100 family missiles. Against ballistic missile threats, and apparently with a secondary capability against air targets, the S-500 uses the 77N6-N and 77N6-N1 kinetic kill missiles. The missiles are capable of hitting their targets at 7 km per second, which the Russians expect would be sufficient to destroy any incoming aerial target including satellites. It apparently has the capability to engage targets as high as 200 km at ranges of 600 km. It can engage as many as 10 incoming ballistic missiles simultaneously and has a response of less than 4 seconds. The Russians claim that the system can engage Over The Horizon (OTH) and can be plugged into an air defence network to include satellites. The S-500 can analyse information about a possible missile attack obtained by early warning satellites and OTH radars, such as the RLS Voronezh-DM, and in conjunction with 1L119 Nebo SVU select targets in terms of their importance, cut off false targets at a great distance, accompany all this and finally issue target designations to various systems.
Sayan Majumdar
