The Defense Ministry of Russia announced on Wednesday that Russia’s Aerospace Force’s air and anti-ballistic missile defense troops has successfully test-fired a new missile of the country’s anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense system at the Sary-Shagan proving ground in the Republic of Kazakhstann. The new interceptor missile of the ABM system reliably confirmed its stated characteristics after a series of tests while the combat teams successfully accomplished the task, striking the notional target with the pre-set accuracy.
On 4 June 2019, the Russian Ministry of Defense posted a video showing the successful interception of the test target which was a test of a new anti-ballistic missile system in the form of a long-range surface to air missile was confirmed. Though the nature of the air defense system which was being tested was not mentioned it has been widely speculated to have been a test of the S-500 Prometheus long-range surface to air missile system which entered early production earlier in the year. However, it also could have been the test of the A-235 anti-ballistic missile system which tests have been conducted on since 2014.
Russia’s ABM system operational in the Aerospace Force is designed to defend the country against strikes by a potential enemy’s aerospace attack weapons. An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term “anti-ballistic missile” is a generic term conveying a system designed to intercept and destroy any type of ballistic threat; however, it is commonly used for systems specifically designed to counter intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
