Russia’s Central Military District reported the successful conclusion of air defense exercises in the Urals, Siberia, and Volga region. In the drills, S-300 systems repelled notional aerial targets represented by MiG-31 fighters and Army Mi-8 helicopters. The S-300 and S-400 are a family of Russian air defense systems which entered service in 1978 and 2007, respectively. It was reported earlier that S-400 ‘Triumf’ long-range air defense missile systems would arrive for the regiment stationed near Yekaterinburg. After these deliveries, advanced weaponry in the Urals responsibility area of the air defense forces will reach 100%.
The Central Military District (Russian: Центральный военный округ) is a military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the central Volga, Ural and Siberia regions of the country and Russian bases in Central Asian post-Soviet states. The air defense regiment in the Sverdlovsk Region is stationed near Yekaterinburg. The Central Military District is the largest military district in Russia by geographic size at 7,060,000 square kilometers (2,730,000 sq mi) (40% of Russian territory) and population at 54.9 million people (39%).
The S-300 (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble) is a series of initially Soviet and later Russian long range surface-to-air missile systems produced by NPO Almaz, based on the initial S-300P version. The S-300 system was developed to defend against aircraft and cruise missiles for the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The command post compares the data received from the targeting radars up to 80 km apart, filtering false targets, a difficult task at such great distances. Subsequent variations were developed to intercept ballistic missiles. The S-300 is regarded as one of the most potent anti-aircraft missile systems currently fielded.
