OH~ , it seems the S400 finally
entered service, just got this info:
S-400 IZ Operational :
S-400 air-defence system operational
The Russian Federation Air Force (RFAF) has confirmed that
two S-400 (Triumph) low- to high-altitude air-defence systems are
in service with line units but that an extension of the re-arming
effort depends on funding.
This information confirms a statement by Lieutenant General Aytech
Bizhev, Deputy Commander-in-Chief (CinC) for the Commonwealth of
Independent States Unified Air-Defence, that two S-400 systems are
deployed with the air force for field testing and that these will
be deployed fully in 2005.
The RFAF CinC General Vladimir Mikhaylov said on 11 December that
the air-defence priority is to upgrade existing equipment and
further develop the new S-400 for air defence and non-strategic
missile defence.
Plans to re-arm the air force surface-to-air missile (SAM) units
with the S-400 remain highly dependent on the availability of
funds, and the manufacturing capacities of the industry, according
to RFAF officials,.
Colonel General Boris Cheltsov, RFAF chief of staff, said the S-400
would achieve full operational readiness in 2005 after receiving a
number of upgrades. Gen Bizhev also confirmed that the upgrades
would allow the S-400 and the A-135M to share target data
information.
Together with upgraded variants of the in-service SAM systems, the
S-400 is part of an effort to "solve the issues of non-strategic
missile defence". Gen Cheltsov, who headed the air force commission
that supervised S-400 fire trials, said the commission has
recommended to the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) that it
accepts the S-400 in service "in a variant with a standard
missile". Earlier it had been recommended that the S-400 enter
trial service with missiles already used by the S-300 series.
Gen Bizhev said the S-400 would initially be located to protect
Moscow, St Petersburg and the Urals industrial region, as well as
border stretches "where missile attacks can be expected". He also
said the S-400 could destroy cruise missiles and aircraft
at a range of 250 km and at a range of heights from several dozen
metres to the stratosphere. 
The S-400, when operational with the new long-range missile
(40N6), is claimed to have a range of 400 km and it is believed to
have passed firing tests with all missile types. 
The existing S-400s are currently undergoing capability
enhancements for interoperability with the space forces
assets.
The Russian armed forces say that the S-400 can potentially be used
against strategic ballistic missiles after separation of warheads.
In that role the S-400s will be co-operating with the A-135
anti-missile system in service with the Russian Space Forces.
Provision is made for the S-400s to receive targeting information
on approaching space threats from the Russian Space Forces in an
automatic mode.
The S-400/A-135 will be the first block of the Air and Space
Defence (ASD) system, a future structure concept recently
formulated by the Russian defence ministry. The latter said that
the MoD has recently approved the ASD concept and it is currently
being improved for final validation by the Russian president.
Among other things, the ASD calls for a unitary radar field over
Russia, similar to that which the Soviet Union had, but "on a new
quality level". To achieve this, a united air traffic
control/air-defence radar field will be created, combining the
means of civil and military structures. Almaz-Antei (Air Defence
Concern or Kontsern PVO) has been selected to lead the effort.
Almaz-Antei will act as systems integrator and also supplier of
major elements such as phased-array radar systems and
'identification friend or foe' interrogators. S-400 WILL Track
Stealth Targets az well: S-400 surveillance radar will track
stealth targets
Miroslav Gyürösi
Russia displayed the 96L6 surveillance radar for the S-400 missile
system at the MAKS 2001 defence exhibition at Zhukovsky near
Moscow, writes Miroslav Gyürösi. It operates in C-band, and the
manufacturers say it can detect and track aircraft and cruise
missiles which use stealth technology.
Work on the 96L6 began in the second half of the 1980s, when Boris
Vasilyevics Bunkin, the general designer of CKB Almaz defined the
requirements for a surveillance radar to form part of the new S-400
missile system. The design of the new radar was assigned to the
Lira design bureau, which is a part of LEMZ - the Lianozovskiz
Elektromekhanicseskij Zavod (Lianozovo Elektromechanical Factory).
Lira and LEMZ are part of the financial-industrial group
Oboronitelniye Sistemi (Defence Systems).
During the development and trials stage OKR
(Opitno-Konstruktorskaya Rabota) of the programme, the new radar
was designated VVO (Vsevisotniy Obnaruzhitel = detector for all
altitudes).
The requirements for the VVO were very rigorous. The team headed by
the late main designer Yuriy Fyodorovics Lisin based its design on
research by Professor VI Vinokurov into the detection of difficult
signals.
Another organisation involved with the development programme was
the scientific research experimental establishment
(Naucsno-Issledovatelskaya Eksperimentalnaya Rabota) Slozhnost
(Complexity), whose general designers are BV Bunkin and Yuriy
Aleksandrovics Kuznecov.
An experimental radar was built and tested in a series of trials
against Yak-52 training aircraft. Specialists from other Russian
radar establishments such as LETI, NII-2 MO, NII-3 MO, UPI, CNIIRES
and VNIIRT participated in the trials, and the resulting data
influenced the future development of radar technology in what was
then the Soviet Union.
In 1988, representatives of the main developing organisation and
the customer signed agreement giving the go-ahead for wideband
radar technology, based on this earlier research to be used in the
VVO programme. As a result of theoretical and experimental
research, a database of difficult signals was developed, along with
signal processing hardware with a speed of 10 billion operations
per second, plus other components.
In 1991, the Lira design bureau built a prototype of the VVO radar.
This started operation in early 1992, and in April of that year was
demonstrated against low-altitude targets. Later that year systems
were delivered for trials at the training centre of NII-2, the
scientific research institute of the Russian air-defence forces.
The system was displayed in model form at the MAKS 97 defence
exhibition.
When the system enters service it will replace the 5N66M and 76N6
(NVO/NVO-M) radars currently used for the detection of low-flying
targets. (The 76N6 is known to NATO as 'Clam Shell'.) Both had been
developed in the early 1970s by the design bureau of the LEMZ
factory. Later the 96L6 will replace the 19Zh6/35D6/36D6 family
(ST-68U/-68UM) of all-round surveillance radars, which were
developed and produced in Ukraine by NPO Iskra.
The role of the 96L6 is the detection of air targets and measuring
of their azimuth, elevation and range. It can be used with the
S-300PMU surface-to-air (SAM) system, can autonomously assign
targets for the 90Zh6E, 90Zh6E1 and 90Zh6E2 (S-300PMU-1 and later)
air-defence missile complexes, and can be connected with the
Baykal-1E and Senezh-M1E automated command and control systems or
the radiotechnical forces' Osnova-1E and Polye-E command
posts.
It can pass information about a wide spectrum of the aerial
targets, including aircraft, helicopters, UAVs and missiles, to the
30N6E, 30N6E1, 30N6E2 ('Flap Lid') series of tracking and missile
guidance radars.
The 96L6 is very effective against low flying targets and against
targets in the medium and high altitudes. It maintains its
performance in the presence of heavy jamming, and has a very low
false-alarm rate.
Targets can be tracked at elevations from 60º down to 0º, but a
minimum of -3º is available as an option. The antenna uses several
beams when scanning in elevation. For detection of very low flying
targets, or if the radar is deployed in a wooded area, the antenna
can be mounted on a 966AA14 elevated tower. The latter consists of
a 40V6M tower mounted on a MAZ-537G (74106) truck.
