The latest anti-aircraft missile system S-350 “Vityaz” has been commissioned into the service of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Recently, it was delivered to the anti-aircraft missile training center of the Air and Space DefenÑe Academy named after Marshal of the Soviet Union G. K. Zhukov in the Leningrad region to train combat crews for advanced equipment. In addition to training the material part, the center’s command conducted an exercise to detect and destroy a mock air enemy.
Earlier during commissioning of the system on the training ground in the Astrakhan region the training center anti-aircraft missile crews have worked their purpose tasks, including detection and conditional destruction of the real air targets whose role was performed by MiG-29SMT. In addition, the crews conducted initial firing of the complex. All tasks performed during the commissioning of the equipment are completed in full.
The S-350 combat crew demonstrated their skills, hit a mock enemy with electronic missile launches, and marched to a new position area.
The 50R6 Vityaz S-350 is a Russian medium-range surface-to-air missile system developed by GSKB Almaz-Antey. The system design traces its roots from the joint South Korean/Russian KM-SAM project and uses the same 9M96 missile as the S-400 missile system. South Korea is developing a simplified version of the Vityaz called Cheolmae-2 with the help of Almaz Central Design Bureau. The new system will have a more advanced radar and a launcher with 16 missiles compared to only four on the S-300.
The missile for the S-350E Vityaz 50R6 is the 9M96 which was originally designed for the S-400 system. This missile is intended for self-defence at a range of up to 15 km and features passive IR homing guidance. The 9M96 is a dual-role anti-missile and anti-aircraft missile. The S-350E Vityaz launcher missile canisters are mounted on the 8×8 truck chassis BAZ-6909. The S-350E Vityaz 50R6 missile system is mounted on a 8×8 truck chassis, under the technical name of 50P6.
