Eurasia Press & News
According to information spread, which also reached the US Senate, the Turkish missile forces had used the purchased Russian S-400 air defense systems against allied F-16 fighters.
This is about the military exercises held this year in Eunomia, where the air forces of France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus took part. According to the information disseminated at that time, the Turkish army had deployed Russian S-400 air defense systems in the Black Sea Turkish province of Samson, and it is assumed that this transfer and deployment was for the purpose of testing the systems.
US Senators James Lankford and Chris Van Holen have sent an immediate letter to the US State Department urging immediate sanctions on Turkey for the use of Russian S-400 systems, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported. According to the two senators, Mike Pompeo should also inform the American public and say whether Turkey has actually used the S-400 to “intercept” Allied fighters, most likely targeting Greek F-16s, citing the confrontation between the two countries in recent weeks. .
The two US senators also want to know from the US State Department whether, in this way and through the use of the Turkish S-400, Russia will gain access to “information about NATO allies“.
Turkey tried to detect weaknesses of the S-400 missile system during tests
Tests of the S-400 by the Turkish military made it possible to assess the effectiveness of the Russian systems, and probably to find weaknesses, learned BulgarianMilitary.com on July 10 citing the former deputy commander of the air defense forces of the USSR Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Alexander Luzan.
“During the test of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, the Turkish military discovered aircraft and carried out so-called electronic launches on them. This allows us to simultaneously study the features of the application, evaluate the effectiveness, perhaps another goal was to find the weaknesses of the system,” Luzan told RIA Novosti.
He explained that it is “technically impossible” to extract technologies from the S-400, because Turkey has to study these systems “empirically”.
In November 2019, Turkey also tested S-400 radar stations using the F-16 U.S. fighter-bombers. The tests were filmed on video. The United States expressed concern about this.
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As we reported on July 8 the functionality of the Russian S-400 air defense systems was tested on American fighters, which approached the Turkish air base.
Testing passed despite a US warning about the possible imposition of sanctions. Similar weapons tests took place in the fall of 2019. Earlier, the purchase of S-400 by Turkey became a stumbling block in relations with the United States.
Not far from Ankara, the Turkish military began new tests of anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) S-400. They sent them from the Myurt air base against the American F-16 and F-4 fighters, according to Fighter Jets World.
The portal notes that testing of Russian weapons began on July 4 and will last several months – until November 26. According to the publication, the Turkish authorities ignored the US warning about the possible imposition of sanctions in the event of air defense missile tests.
Russian-Turkish talks on S-400s second batch delivery are in an advanced stage
As we reported on June 2 the negotiations between Russia and Turkey on the delivery of the second set of S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft systems are in an advanced stage.
“Negotiations are underway, this is a laborious process that requires a certain amount of time. But given the current restrictions in connection with the pandemic, it is not very grateful to predict the terms of concluding this contract,” the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Dmitry Shugaev said then.
Shugaev noted that at the moment the parties are awaiting the final decision of Turkey.
What S-400 missile system is?
S-400 Triumph is a Russian long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile system, anti-aircraft missile system (SAM). S-400 is designed to destroy all modern and promising means of aerospace attack [including hypersonic].
According to Western analysts, the S-400, along with systems such as the Iskander OTRK and coastal anti-ship systems of the Bastion class, plays a key role in the new concept of the Russian Armed Forces, known in the West as the “Access Denied Zone” [Anti-Access / Area Denial, A2 / AD], which consists in the fact that NATO troops cannot be and move within the range of A2 / AD restricted area systems without the risk of causing unacceptable damage to them.
Triumph is the name of the export version. The market price of one division of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system is about $ 500 million.
Technical characteristics of S-400 missile system
The performance characteristics of the S-400 Triumph are: detects a target at a distance of 600 km; strikes a target at a distance of 400 km; the maximum speed of the hit targets – 4.8 km / s; at the same time can fire 36 targets with pointing up to 72 missiles on them; deployment time of the system from the stowed state – 5-10 minutes; the time to bring the system’s assets into combat readiness from the deployed state is 3 minutes.
How does the Triumph air defense system work?
The S-400 Triumph is not just an installation for launching missiles, but a whole complex of coordinated and complex systems, the components of which are located on high-cross-country vehicles.
The entire process from detecting to destroying a target occurs automatically:
The radar system (radar) detects hundreds of targets within a radius of 600 km and determines their nationality.
Data is sent to the command post (55K6E). He, in turn, distributes targets between several launchers (5P85TE2).
Each command post can simultaneously control eight air defense systems, each of which carries up to 12 launchers. They, in turn, accommodate four missiles with different masses, launch ranges and capabilities.
Depending on the type of target, an air defense system selects a missile. The S-400 Triumph is armed with missiles with different weights, launch ranges and capabilities: 48N6E, 48N6E2, 48N6E3, 9M96E and 9M96E2.
Ultra-long-range missiles (up to 400 km) are capable of destroying targets even beyond the reach of targeting locators, for which they have unique homing heads. After climbing at the command of such a rocket itself goes into search mode.
