Modern military strategy is based on the principle of a preemptive strike. This way of starting hostilities involves gaining superiority in the very first hours after their start.
This result can be achieved if enemy aircraft are destroyed at airfields, communications centers are destroyed, strikes are made at headquarters, and power supply systems are paralyzed. In other words, the success of any military campaign is due to air supremacy.
The history of armed conflicts of recent decades clearly demonstrates the priority importance of protecting ground objects from a sudden aviation or missile attack. The events in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and other countries whose armies were bombed and fired leave no doubt that saving on air defense systems is too expensive.
The army and navy of the Russian Federation are faced with the task of protecting the territorial integrity and economic interests of our country. The brutal lessons learned at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War make us care about border security regardless of the peaceful assurances of foreign politicians, who no, no, and even speak out about the injustice of such a large amount of natural wealth belonging to one state.
The modern Vityaz air defense system, the production of which was launched at the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg, is a further development of the S-300 and S-400 line. The tactical and technical data of this model were not disclosed at the moment, however, some information voiced by the plant’s specialists allows us to judge that it is capable of solving not only air defense but also space defense tasks.
The Vityaz medium-range air defense system was developed and designed by the Almaz-Antey concern. It is designed to replace the S-300P systems that are on combat duty today. This does not mean that the latter are outdated, just for obvious reasons, one should not wait for such a situation.
The altitude range of targets that are able to capture, accompany and hit the Vityaz air defense system is very wide - from the very small to the stratospheric. The range corresponds to short and medium distances, which sets high requirements for speed for hardware and software components (the shorter the possible flight time, the less time is devoted to making a decision).
The Vityaz air defense complex is designed to protect various stationary-based facilities. The missiles that make up its weapons are similar to those used by the S-400 launchers.
Unlike the previous generation air defense systems, which formed the basis of Soviet air defense, modern systems are mobile. Such a measure is designed to reduce vulnerability in the event of a sudden "disarming strike" for which a likely adversary can use medium-range missiles with short flying time.
The Vityaz air defense system consists of a launcher mounted on an eight-wheeled BAZ chassis, a command and computing station and an all-round radar. The time required for the combat deployment of the system is minimal.
In the next seven years, it is planned to update two-thirds of the anti-aircraft weapons of the Russian Army. The state will allocate more than 3 trillion rubles for the development of air defense and space defense, including the fine-tuning and testing of the Vityaz system. Air defense will receive these systems in the coming years.