MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow's air defense units have been put on high alert as part of of combat readiness drills, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
"Within the framework of the final inspection during the winter training period, air defense units of the Aerospace Forces stationed in the Moscow Region have been put on high alert…S-300, S-400 and Pantsir-S air defense systems are taking part in the drills," the ministry said in a statement.
The S-400 is Russia's next-generation air defense system, carrying three different types of missiles capable of destroying aerial targets at a short-to-extremely-long range. The weapon is capable of tracking and destroying all existing aerial targets, including ballistics and cruise missiles. It is a further derivative of the S-300 system.
The system is designed to detect and hit a variety of targets flying at altitudes from five meters to 15 kilometers and at the range from 200 meters to 20 kilometers.
It has a reaction time of just five seconds.
