Russia Expects to Complete S-350 Testing in 2017

In an interview with a Russian defense magazine, the General Designer of Almaz-Antey, Paval Sozinov, noted that Russia expects to complete testing on the system this year.

Tass News Agency quoted him as saying to National Defense magazine, “Government certification tests will be through this year. Preliminary firing tests are in progress.”

He added, “Over the available period of time the required statistics of combat launches and of interception of real targets in various maneuvering conditions are to be gathered.”

So far, according to Sozinov, no major issues have been detected.

Discussing a maritime air-defense system, the Poliment-Redut, Sozinov said, “The Poliment-Redut-R R&D work is focused on developing small-, medium-and intermediate-range missiles for arming the relevant ships.”

These, according to Sozinov, “have been unified with the S-350 Vityaz air defense system.”

The two systems have previously been reported to operate the 9M100 missile (10 kilometer range), 9M96E missile (40 kilometer range), and 9M96E2 missile (120 kilometer range).

Reportedly, the 9M96E2 has encountered difficulties during test-firing at sea, with the missile supposedly failing soon after firing. The issues with the missile are believed to be a large factor in the delay of putting Admiral Gorshkov, a new frigate, into service.

Lead Analyst, Defense Markets and Strategic Analysis at Forecast International | + posts

Military markets analyst, covering Eurasia, Middle East, and Africa.

About Derek Bisaccio

Military markets analyst, covering Eurasia, Middle East, and Africa.

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