MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/: Russia will complete its work on the most advanced S-500 anti-aircraft missile system in 2021, Aerospace Force Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lieutenant-General Andrei Yudin said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Friday.
"It should be noted that the work on developing the S-500 mobile air defense and anti-ballistic missile system is scheduled to be completed in 2021," the general said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said at the Army-2020 international arms show that the S-500 system was already undergoing state trials and work was underway to purchase parts for its serial production.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said in February that military specialists had held the trials of the world’s unrivaled surface-to-air missiles for the latest S-500 air defense system last year.
The deputy defense minister said in December 2019 that the preliminary tests of the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system would begin in 2020 and the commencement of its serial deliveries to the troops was scheduled for 2025.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said that the deliveries of the latest S-500 surface-to-air missile systems to the troops would begin in 2020. Russia has been training specialists to learn to operate the new system at the Military Academy of the Aerospace Force in Tver since 2017.
Russia is developing the S-500 with a view of its operation in the next 25 years. As the Western media reported, the new Russian missile system struck the target at a range of 481.2 km or 80 km more compared to any existing missile system.
