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S-300PS air defense missile systems put on combat duty in South Siberia

The main task of the units, able to destroy airborne targets at a distance of 300 km, is protection of important facilities in the region, says a Russian military official

YEKATERINBURG, July 1. /TASS/. The S-300PS Favorit anti-aircraft missile defense systems were put on combat duty on Friday to protect the airspace over southern Siberia, Deputy Commander of Russia’s 14th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Central Military District Andrei Shchemelev told TASS.

"The S-300PS anti-aircraft missile defense systems were put on combat duty at 10:00 am, local time (6:00, Moscow time) today in the Republic of Khakassia", Shchemelev said.

According to him, crews of the Abakan air defense missile formation successfully completed a retraining course for using the new weapons, completed field firing practice at the Ashuluk range in the Astrakhan region in late March. "The positons for the deployment of the new S-300 systems have been equipped," Shchemelev said.

An anti-aircraft missile defense formation was formed in Abakan on December 1, 2015. "The main task of the anti-aircraft gunners is to protect important facilities in the responsibility zone", he said.

S-300PS is a medium-range air defense missile, designed to destroy airborne targets at a distance of 300 km, flying at speeds up to 1,200 meters per second. The system is capable of engaging simultaneously six targets.

Each S-300 launcher vehicle carries four missile containers (two missiles per target). A full battalion includes six launcher vehicles with a total of 24 missiles, plus command-and-control and long-range radar detection vehicles. The S-300 system fires two missiles vertically within 3 seconds, making it versatile and accurate. Russian 48N6E are the standard missiles fired from S-300PMU launchers. They have a range of 5-150km (3-93 miles) at a maximum altitude of 27-30km (17-19 miles). Vehicle stopping to missile firing is five minutes.