DZHANKOI /Republic of Crimea/, November 29. /TASS/. The battalion of S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems that has assumed combat duty in Crimea will allow defending the peninsula from any air attacks, Commander of the Southern Military District’s Air Force and Air Defense Army Viktor Sevostyanov said on Thursday.
It was earlier reported that the fourth battalion of S-400 air defense missile systems had gone on combat duty near the town of Dzhankoi in Crimea some 25 km from the Russian-Ukrainian border on Thursday.
"It can be said that Crimea is fully protected from an enemy’s air attack weapons from all the directions at a distance of up to 400 km," the army commander said.
The S-400 systems can destroy targets actually at a flight altitude of up to 30 km while their speed has practically no significance. The S-400 can simultaneously track and destroy up to 300 air and ground targets. The air defense missile systems can be switched from their travelling to their combat position within five minutes, he noted.
"The placement of this unique system on combat duty will significantly increase the efficiency of the entire Crimean air defense grouping," the commander said.
As was reported earlier, the third S-400 battalion assumed combat duty in Crimea’s Yevpatoria in September to protect the Russian airspace. The similar air defense missile systems went on combat duty in Feodosiya in January 2017 and in Sevastopol in January 2018 to protect the Russian airspace in Crimea.
The S-400 Triumf mobile multi-channel air defense missile system is designed to defend vital military facilities and infrastructural installations and features better capabilities compared to its S-300PM predecessor.
Russia’s S-400 Triumf is the latest medium-and long-range surface-to-air missile system that went into service in 2007. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, and can also be used against ground installations. The S-400 can engage targets at a distance of 400 km and at an altitude of up to 30 km.