Russia ‘successfully’ tests new S-550 air defense system: Report

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia has “successfully” tested the S-550 air defense system, local media reported on Wednesday.

The air defense system is capable of "hitting spacecraft, ballistic missile reentry vehicles and hypersonic targets at altitudes of tens of thousands of kilometers," a source close to the Defense Ministry told the state-run TASS news agency.

The first S-550 air defense system has entered combat duty, the source said.

Russia’s comprehensive missile and air defense is now comprised of Pantsir systems for low altitudes, the family of S systems from S-350 to S-500 for long-range targets, and S-550 for defense in space, it added.

On Nov. 15, Sergey Chemezov, head of Russia’s state tech corporation Rostec, had said that the S-550 will have a longer-range target detection and missile interception capability.