TULA, September 21 (Itar-Tass) - Six Pantsir-S air defence systems have been turned over to the Defence Ministry ahead of schedule and will be used to ensure security during the Winter Olympic Games in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi in 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at the handover ceremony on Saturday, September 21.

The first six systems will to go Sochi with initial shooting tests to be held at the Ashuluk range on the way to the final destination, Viktor Gumenny, who oversees the Air Force’s air defence and rocket systems, said.

“Air Force pilots will do their best to fulfill the set combat task of protecting our southern frontiers and ensuring security during the Olympic Games,” he said.

Rogozin emphasised the reliability of Pantsir-S systems which can destroy ballistic and aerodynamic targets that may be aimed against Russia’s civilian infrastructure.

“We are witnessing the birth of a whole family of Pantsir air defence systems. This is very important,” he said.

The Pantsir-S system designed for air defence of small military and administrative-industrial objects and areas against aircrafts, helicopters, cruise missiles and high-precision weapons, guided air bombs and unmanned aerial vehicles as well as for reinforcement of AD groups during repulse of massive air strikes and ensuring of engagement of lightly-armoured targets.

Pantsir-S is considered to be a universal system capable to fighting planes, helicopters, ballistic and cruise missiles, guided aerial bombs, and other high-precision weapons. It can also be used for destroying underwater and surface light-armoured targets and manpower.

The system consists of 12 surface-to-air guided missiles and two 30-millimetre automatic guns. It is provided with multi-range radar capable of detecting aerial targets with effective surface of dispersion of up to 2-3 square metres at a distance of more than 30 kilometres and track them down from a distance of over 24 kilometres.

It can also work in a passive mode using an infrared channel in the long-wave band with logical processing of the signal and automatic tracking.

The system can conduct fire at two targets at the same time and attack up to 12 targets within a minute. The system's effective range for missiles is 20 kilometres and the maximum altitude is eight kilometres, and for artillery shells up to three and four kilometres respectively.

The probability of destroying the target is 0.6 to 0.8 depending on its type and obstacles. The time of response is 5-6 seconds.