Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday confirmed that it has awarded Russia’s state arms group Almaz-Antey a contract for the first batch of the S-500 Prometey air defense systems.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract with VKO Almaz-Antey on shipment of over 10 Prometey systems to the Aerospace forces. Serial shipments will begin in the first half of 2022,” a source said.
The contract includes funding to produce a batch of the first ten S-500 surface-to-air missile systems designed to swat down both air-breathing and ballistic missile threats.
Local media also reported that that “state trials of the S-500 currently proceed at a proving ground in southern Russia.” The trials are expected to wrap up in late 2021.
Just last week, the Russian military released footage of its advanced new S-500 surface-to-air missile system in action.
The ministry said the missile had successfully hit a “high-speed ballistic target”.
“The S-500 anti-aircraft missile system has no analogues in the world and is designed to defeat the entire spectrum of existing and promising aerospace attack weapons of a potential enemy in the entire range of altitudes and speeds,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Once the full test cycle is complete, the equipment plans provide for the delivery of the first S-500 system to the Air Defence and Missile Defence unit near Moscow,” it said, without specifying a time frame.