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Russia to build 2 plants for S-500 air defense systems

18 November 2011 03:53 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russiaâ€™s Almaz-Antey concern will build two plants to manufacture formidable S-500 air defense systems, Chief of the General Staff Gen. Nikolai Makarov said, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

â€œWe gave Almaz-Antey two years to build two plants, which will manufacture new S-500 air defense missile systems in the future,â€ Makarov said on Thursday.

The S-500, a long-range air defense missile system, is expected to become the backbone of a unified aerospace defense system being formed in Russia.

The system, being developed by Almaz-Antey, will have an extended range of up to 600 km (over 370 miles) and simultaneously engage up to 10 targets.

The Russian military has demanded that the system must be capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and hypersonic cruise missiles and plans to order at least ten S-500 battalions for the future Russian Aerospace Defense.

The first deliveries of S-500 are officially expected in 2015, but some Russian experts believe they are more likely to start in 2017, at the earliest.