Russia will create a national missile defense system by 2025
An echeloned national missile defense system will appear in Russia by 2025, said Sergey Boev, the Chief Designer of the missile attack warning system, in an interview with the Russian Parliamentary Newspaper.
He added that the modernization of the A-135 (ABM-3) anti-ballistic missile defense system of Moscow and the Central Industrial District will be completed by 2020. According to him, the missile defense system is being created based on long-range anti-ballistic missile systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, and short-range anti-ballistic missile systems.
In addition, Boev said that the system is being created as a result of a "direct threat" to Russia posed by the NATO’s deployment of ground-based missile defense complexes in Romania and Poland. "There is a possibility that the conversion of launchers for the delivery of medium-range ballistic missiles is taking place," the chief designer said.
Earlier, the Ministry of Defense announced that the first S-500 air defense missile system prototype would be completed by 2020. According to Pavel Sozinov, the General Designer of the Almaz-Antey Air and Space Defense Company, the S-500 will be capable of hitting targets 100 kilometers from the Earth. According to the general designer, such a system solves "a whole set of problems both in air defense and in anti-missile defense."