Russia has reportedly moved some elements of its formidable S-500 air defense system to Crimea. After successful Ukrainian attacks on the S- 400 missile system, questions are being raised about whether Russia is exposing its still combat-untested, cutting-edge resource by putting it in the possible range of Ukrainian strikes.
Russia is known to have just one active S-500 regiment, comprising just two battalions with two air-defense batteries each. Details of what elements have been moved are not clear. Air-defense systems of this type have several operational components, including command posts, radars, and launchers.
Has the system been deployed to protect the vital Kerch Bridge in Crimea? Were there no alternative choices? Is this just a narrative building by either side? The S-500 is still at the experimental stage, and Moscow has indicated it expects to serially produce the system by 2025. However, Russian media reported in 2021 that the first S-500 had already been deployed around Moscow.
Poster Comment:
By contrast the US Patriot II is highly inferior to the S-300 which the Soviets introduced in 1978.