TASS-FACTBOX. On December 17, 2025, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov announced during the ministry’s final year-end board meeting that the first regiment equipped with the S-500 system had entered combat duty, marking a major milestone in Russia’s strategic missile defense capabilities. TASS-FACTBOX editors have prepared a report on the system.
Basic information
The S-500 Prometheus (previously also referred to as the Triumfator-M) is a Russian anti-aircraft missile system. It is designed to engage the full spectrum of existing aerospace attack weapons of a potential enemy at all altitudes and speeds.
The exact performance characteristics of the S-500 have not been officially published. The system is being developed with the capability to be operational for the next 25 years.
History of the S-500 development and testing
The designer and manufacturer of the Prometheus is the Almaz-Antey Aerospace Defense Concern. The system was developed in the period from the 2000s to the 2020s as a supplement to the S-400 Triumph air defense system (in service in Russia since 2007) and other earlier-generation systems. The Prometheus is expected to fill a niche between military and strategic air defense and missile defense systems. The new system will interact with medium-and long-range air defense systems (S-300, S-400) and the Moscow and Central Industrial District air defense system.
Representatives of Almaz-Antey announced the preparation of a preliminary design for the S-500 air defense system in September 2009. The development was initially planned to be completed "within 4-5 years," but the completion date was repeatedly rescheduled.
Since 2012, Almaz-Antey had been building new plants in Nizhny Novgorod and Kirov, which were planned, in particular, to manufacture components and conduct the final assembly of the S-500 air defense system. The production was launched in Kirov in 2016, and in Nizhny Novgorod in 2018. The training of specialists to operate the S-500 system started in 2017.
In July 2017, Deputy General Director of Almaz-Antey for Foreign Economic Activity Vyacheslav Dzirkaln said at the MAKS-2017 aerospace show that the high-altitude anti-missile system for the S-500 had passed "the main part of tests."
In February 2020, in an article published in the Radioelectronic Technologies corporate journal, Deputy Defense Minister Alexey Krivoruchko reported that S-500 missile tests were conducted in 2019 with launches of new missiles. He said the S-500 system would be capable of engaging medium-range ballistic missiles (independently intercepting missiles with a launch range of up to 3,500 km) and intercontinental ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their trajectory, and in certain cases, in the mid-course phase.
In December 2019, Alexey Krivoruchko said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper that preliminary S-500 tests would begin in 2020, with serial deliveries scheduled for 2025.
Development of the system in the 2020s
On March 26, 2020, General Director of the Design Bureau of Special Machine-Building (part of the Almaz-Antey concern) Vladimir Dolbenkov told the National Defense magazine that the S-500 components were in the final stage of testing: the launcher, components of the multifunctional locator and missile defense locator, chassis for the combat control post, and transport units for the early warning radar system.
Defense industry sources told TASS that the S-500 land-based version "could also be used against ships if necessary." On July 20, 2021, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the S-500 had completed live-fire tests against a high-speed ballistic target at the Kapustin Yar range (Astrakhan Region). It was noted that the tests confirmed the specified tactical and technical characteristics.
On June 28, 2021, at a meeting in the Kremlin with graduates of higher military schools, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that new unique weapons systems would soon be deployed in Russia, including the S-500 Prometheus.
On July 29, 2021, a defense industry official told TASS that the Russian Defense Ministry and the Almaz-Antey Concern signed a contract on the supply the first batch of over 10 Prometheus systems to the Russian military. On August 11, a defense source told TASS that Almaz-Antey had begun manufacturing of serial missiles for the S-500 system in accordance with the contract signed with the Defense Ministry in late 2020.
On September 16, 2021, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov told reporters on the sidelines of the Tyumen Oil and Gas Forum that the S-500 systems delivery to the Russian military had begun. Asked about the system, Borisov specified: "State tests have just been completed, and the first deliveries of this system have begun." He added that India could potentially acquire the Prometheus after Russian troops are fully equipped with the system.
On December 18, 2024, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov announced that the formation of the first regiment equipped with the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system was nearing completion.