The Russian Pantsir S1 air defence system has received a hypersonic missile. An object is said to be hypersonic once they exceed the speed of Mach 5 that is 5 times the speed of sound. This is about 1,715 m/s or 3,836 mph 0r 6,174 km/h. Russia is seen to be at the forefront of hypersonic weapons development. It is said that it has deployed a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) Avanguard and a hypersonic ALBM or air-launch BS Kinzhal. It has also been revealed that Pantsir-S1 will potentially receive other enhancements, also, that will increase its firepower. Though it seems a natural progression for Russia to arm it’s well known Pantsir S1 air defence system with hypersonic missile and upgraded its other capabilities, there is more to this story.
Pantsir S1
The capability of Pantsir S1
The Pantsir S1 missile system is a self-propelled surface-to-air missile system. It is designed to provide point air defence of the military (industrial) administrative installations against aircraft, helicopter precision munitions, cruise missiles, and unmanned air vehicles.
Note: S-400 missile system is also protected by Pantsir S1
The Pantsir S1 is mobile and uses wheeled or track acquisition radar and dual waveband tracking radar that operator in the UHF and EHF waveband. The detection range is 22 miles or 36 km and the tracking range is 17 miles or 28 km for a target of 2 sq meter 22 sq feet radar cross-section. The system has a 360-degree coverage and both the sensors use passive electronically scanned array. There is also an infrared radar that is capable of detecting, acquiring and tracking targets even in low visibility conditions. Pantsir S1 is unique as it is the first version of the Pantsir family air defence system that combined short to medium range surface to air missile and anti-aircraft artillery in a single platform. The surface-to-air missiles are the 12 57E6 or 57E6-E ( a two-stage solid-fuel radio command guided missile). The missile are arranged into two groups of 6 continue reading
