MOSCOW -- Russia is in the process of overhauling its early warning and air-defense systems.
In an interview with the military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, Aerospace Force commander-in-chief Colonel General Sergei Surovikin said that the A-135 surface-to-air missile system, which protects Moscow, "will soon get an upgraded multi-purpose radar station and modernized missile interceptors." Test launches of the upgraded missile have been conducted.
Surovikin commented on the importance of the upgrade, noting, "No doubt, the upgrade of the existing A-135 ABM system that is on combat duty in the city of Moscow is a major task for defense enterprises."
Moreover, Russia is overhauling the early warning system in Sevastopol, located on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Surovikin noted that the military "made a decision to deploy a pre-fabricated meter-band radar in Sevastopol, which will be ready in 2024." He added that construction of two-band radar complexes is underway in Murmansk and near Vorkuta. These facilities should be completed in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
In December 2019, Russia put into service a Container-3M missile warning system in Mordovia which "conducts reconnaissance of airspace over Europe and the Middle East," Surovikin said. He noted, alongside this site, Russia will put into service another three Container-3M systems. These are to be built in Kaliningrad, Siberia, and Russia's far east.
Surovikin said that these will enable the military "to monitor airspace from all strategic aerospace directions."
Furthermore, the Aerospace Force is looking to put new hardware into service that can help guard the country's airspace against hypersonic threats. Russia's military has put a hypersonic glide vehicle into service, and other major powers are currently developing various weapon systems that utilize hypersonic technology.
As a result, Russia is working on a radar station named Nioby, to detect incoming hypersonic threats, Surovikin said.