The Russian Navy Northern Fleet aviation and air defense units carried out the first ever complex exercise on fending off an air attack on the guarded site near the Safonovo naval aerodrome in the Murmansk Region. The exercise involved over 10 vehicles and 100 personnel, including the Ka-29 assault helicopter crew, unmanned aviation and security units. The exercise participants practiced solving a wide array of air defense tasks relying on the Syrian combat experience: in particular, fending off drone attack with firearms and the Pantsir-S1 air defense system. The personnel displayed resolve and successfully completed the training tasks laid before it.
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation is looking to place short-to-medium range antia-ircraft SA-22 Pantsir-S1 battalions at Murmansk by the Norwegian border and at unspecified locations in the east of Russia facing both the US and Japan. The twin-barreled Pantsir has a range of upwards of 19 miles and can function in temperatures as low as -58 degrees Farenheit, making it the perfect weapon for Russia to deploy to its planned string of military bases throughout the Arctic. Altough it’s primarily an air defense system, the Pantsir can also “protect the defended asset from ground-based and water surface-based threats.” Pantsir battalions have been deployed to the Arctic before.
The Pantsir (NATO reporting name SA-22 Greyhound) missile system is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. It is produced by KBP Instrument Design Bureau of Tula, Russia. The system is a further development of 2K22 Tunguska (NATO reporting name: SA-19/SA-N-11) and uses phased array radars for both target acquisition and tracking. The Pantsir-S1 was designed to provide point air defence of military against aircraft, helicopters, precision munitions, cruise missiles and UAVs; and to provide additional protection to air defence units against enemy air attacks employing precision munitions, especially at low to extremely low altitudes.
The specific feature of the Pantsir-S1 system is the combination of a multiple-band target acquisition and tracking system in conjunction with a combined missile and gun armament creating a continuous target engagement zone from 5 m (16 ft) height and 200 m (660 ft) range up to 15 km (9.3 mi) height and 20 km (12 mi) range, even without any external support. Two dual 2A38M 30 mm (1.2 in) autocannon guns are fitted with 700 rounds of a variety of ammunition—HE (High Explosive) fragmentation, fragmentation tracer, and armour-piercing with tracer. Pantsir-S prototype from 1994 was built on Ural-5323 8×8 truck but a actual Pantsir-S1 is built on KAMAZ-6560 8×8 38t truck with 400 hp (300 kW).
