Russian S-350 air defence system 'effectively intercepts' Western missiles

Moscow: Russia's S-350 Vityaz surface-to-air missile system has effectively intercepted Western missiles in the ongoing special military operation, TASS news agency quoted the Russian Ministry of Defence on Thursday.

"In the special military operation zone, the combat crews of the S-350 air defence system successfully repelled enemy airstrikes," the ministry said, reported Xinhua news agency.

"The system is capable of downing both Western ballistic and cruise missiles, such as ATACMS and Storm Shadow," the ministry said. "The S-350 can also neutralise an entire squadron of enemy aircraft or helicopters -- up to 16 in a single salvo."

The ministry highlighted that Vityaz's primary advantage over previous systems lies in its missile capacity: a single S-350 launcher is equipped with the same number of munitions as an entire S-300 division.

"With one radar station, five launchers can be operated simultaneously, and the system supports the concurrent operation of three stations. This triples the number of missiles on combat duty, allowing it to counter even massive missile attacks," the ministry added.

The S-350 is a medium-range surface-to-air missile system developed by the Russian defence company GSKB Almaz-Antey.

ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile System, is a tactical ballistic missile manufactured by the U.S. defence company Lockheed Martin. The Storm Shadow cruise missile has a range of over 250 kilometers. Both missiles were provided to Ukraine in 2023.