MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. The integral parts of Russia’s next-generation S-500 Triumphant-M anti-aircraft missile system are at the final stage of their trials, CEO of the Design Bureau of Special Machine-Building (part of Almaz-Antey defense manufacturer) Vladimir Dolbenkov said in an interview with the National Defense magazine on Thursday.

"In the interests of air and missile defense troops, the enterprise’s specialists have developed equipment units for the Triumphant-M next-generation mobile anti-aircraft missile system. As part of this effort, they have developed and are completing the trials of units for the surface-to-air missile system: the launcher, the elements of the multi-functional locator and the missile defense locator, the equipped chassis for the combat control post and transporters for the long-range radar system," he said.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said in an article published in the corporate magazine Radio-Electronic Technologies of the KRET Group in February that military specialists had held the trials of the world’s unrivaled surface-to-air missiles for the latest S-500 air defense system last year.

The deputy defense minister said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda in December 2019 that the preliminary tests of the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system would begin in 2020 and the commencement of its serial deliveries to the troops was scheduled for 2025.

Russia is developing the S-500 with a view of its operation in the next 25 years. As the Western media reported, the new Russian missile system struck the target at a range of 481.2 km or 80 km more compared to any existing missile system.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said that the deliveries of the S-500 to the troops would begin in 2020. Russia has been training specialists to learn to operate the new system at the Military Academy of the Aerospace Force in Tver since 2017.