S400 : The real definition of Defense system

    

                                              Credit: Rosoboronexport

• TYPE
• Air defence missile system
• MANUFACTURER
• Fakel Machine-Building Design Bureau
• OPERATOR
• Russian Army
• SERVICE ENTRY
• 2007
• MISSILES
• 40N6, 48N6, and 9M96
• MAXIMUM RANGE
• 400km

    The S400 is a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system. It's been called one of the most reliable air defenses around and can shoot down almost any target. The S400 has a range of 400 kilometers and can track hundreds of targets simultaneously the S400 is the real game-changer the reason it's in multiple intercept missiles the s400 system can fire. The S400 supports four different missiles the very long-range series four hundred kilometers, 250kilometers, 120 kilometers and the short-range 40 kilometers. By comparison the U.S. patriot system supports only one interceptor missile with a range of 96 kilometers, but there is more the 9m 96e2 - it's one of the jewels of the S400 system it flies at Mach 15 around 5,000 meters per second or 18,500 kph it can engage targets as low as 5 meters off the ground and it can maneuver pulling up to 20 G's a human can withstand no more than 9 G's with special pressure suits and helmets and for only a few seconds. It is designed to knock out penetrating aircraft and missiles flying off the deck or just above ground and neutralize cruise missiles. 

                                            Credit: Rosoboronexport

    Dr Carlo cop one of the world's top aerospace experts says the S400 has optional acquisition radars designed to defeat modern stealth aircraft such as the f-22 in the f-35 they work by operating in multiple frequency bands including both VHF and l bands that can see stealth protected fighters. Stealth designs have been built on low detection by x-band radars. The most common military and civilian radars others such as c-band now known as the G H band are less prevalent. The f-35 has stealth protection mainly in the front of the aircraft meaning that when it turns away from its target it is in time the entire air defense system of the US and its allies all based primarily on x-band will become obsolete. As China and Russia move towards stealth aircraft and missiles along with the radar enhancements which may or may not be delivered to foreign customers Russia has a formidable integrated air defense system even though the size of its truly modern aircraft fleet is quite small compared to the United States and NATO.

     Russia lost a decade in the arms race when it had no money to develop and build new aircraft and its economy today barely supports acquisition of effective numbers of new equipment indeed. one of the reasons Russia developed its air defenses along with wanting to counter U.S.A’s stealth aircraft and cruise missiles is because it could not afford a big fleet of modern fighter aircraft. The US administration in Congress should pay close attention to Russia's limited offensive capabilities not too often din these days of anti-Russian hysteria in Washington one use of the S400 long-range missile is against standoff systems including flying command posts and aircraft such as the e3 sentry AWACS these aircraft which were used by the US and its NATO allies with a squadron stationed in Japan at Kadena AFB and in the UAE at Al-dhafra are vulnerable to S400 interceptors and lose their standoff range protection. We may be reaching the end of AWACS capability which were originally designed in the 1960s the S400 also has capability against ballistic missiles. A feature that surely attracted Saudi Arabia's interest how good it is against ballistic missiles no one knows for sure the Russian breakthrough makes sense in technological terms the U.S does not have a true competitor to the S400 system and the U.S is not anxious to see such systems proliferate to Benin too late a complex solution to a complex problem.

      America's unique electronic warfare and radar suppression abilities include the growler but also many other platforms and ancillary capabilities as well this complex ecosystem of weaponry and sensors includes various surveillance aircraft hacking and cyber warfare abilities. Active suppression of enemy air defenses tactics and weaponry along with low-observable aircraft in long-range standoff munitions the last two are especially potent when combined together an electronic warfare support is added firing long-range low-observable stealthy weaponry from even a non stealthy aircraft gives enough standoff distance to begin taking out in enemies known air defenses at a safe distance. Today the S400 included in most cases when a stealthy launch platform is used instead you can use more plentiful weapons with less range as that stealth aircraft can get closer to the air defenses being targeted than their non stealthy brethren can for instance an f-16 may be able to get well within JASSM missile range of an advanced sam sidewall an f-35 could get within the outer edge of small diameter bomb range. When you add jamming support these ranges decrease by a noticeable margin depending on what tactics are used and what a capacity available is to employ those tactics the problem is that against an advanced foe you're not going up against a single sam sight to radar but a full constellation of systems that includes aerial assets just like the advanced integrated air defense system we discussed before. Here's Russia's S400 missile system inaction and how the US would deal with it. That is why brochure comparisons of systems is nearly useless for such complex military topics in real life the growler does not take on the S400 alone and vice versa an advanced tie-ins including the S400 and it will likely feature increased detection ranges against stealthy and non stealthy aircraft alike it will also make jamming more problematic and could mean blinding even a portion of that network is much tougher due to multiple layers of redundant air defenses tied together. 

    This is where cyber warfare in pinpoint strikes based on multiple sources of intelligence can be more effective than jamming or going after the surface-to-air missiles and sensors themselves for instance taking out the IODS brains locations where the sensor fusion occurs or striking the system's communications channels as IODS sense or infusion capabilities advances in a surface-to-air missile ranges increase it may be necessary to use stealthy long-range networked weapons long-range stealthy aircraft and all the other tactics. We mentioned including standoff jamming in order to begin to degrade and eventually destroy an advanced air defense system. Additionally this may be necessary due to other area denial and anti access capabilities the enemy possesses for instance, if a carrier cannot get within 1,500 miles of an enemy Shores.  Its aircraft will be incapable of striking targets. Bases within range of ballistic missile barges may also be destroyed, as the cumulative effects of these first days of or standoff strikes take hold, the ient should begin to buckle and parts of this deadly air defense killing cocktail can be omitted for instance instead of using long-range stealthy aircraft to launch long-range stealthy missiles. Stealthy fighters can be used to launch medium-range weaponry as air tankers can operate close enough to enemy airspace in order for them to be effective. Meanwhile long-range non stealthy aircraft can begin launching long-range weapons, which frees up stealthy long-range aircraft to begin pushing over or near the enemy shores for direct attacks. Systems like many interior launch decoys can be used along with strike assets to push deeper into an enemy's territory wiping out its air defenses along the way as time goes on a sanitized corridor should emerge over enemy airspace where less complex tactics can be applied and at higher sortie rates, for instance fighters strikes can be flown with electronic warfare and wild weasel support, without the need for standoff weaponry or in some cases without stealthy aircraft at all. In other words it takes a complex cocktail of jamming surveillance and attack assets both kinetic and non kinetic to take on any advanced integrated air defense system of which the S400 could be a part and even then you degrade and eventually destroy the enemy's air defense in a very throughout in methodical manner. 

    So although it is an incredibly capable and critical weapon system those who say the AR 18g growler or any other single weapon system for that matter is some panacea for modern air defense systems are greatly simplifying a complex solution to a very complex problem.

Credit: Rosoboronexport