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originally posted by: pheonix358
a reply to: TrueAmerican
It would take too long to get them there and set up.
On May 21, 2007 the Russian Air Force announced that S-400 would be put on combat duty around Moscow and Central Russia by July 1, 2007.[105] The S-400 was also deployed near the town of Elektrostal.[106] On August 6, 2007, the first regiment equipped with S-400 entered active service in Moscow Oblast near Elektrostal, according to Channel One Russia. This is the 606th Guards Anti-air Rocket Regiment, 9th PVO Division, 1st PVO Corps, of the Special Purpose Command.[107]
When Russian warships start escorting oil tankers out of Venezuela is the time to start worrying.
originally posted by: DigginFoTroof
Just a little thinking here, but the cost of tomahawks aren't too outrageously expensive and what would it take to overwhelm a S400/500 with a large barrage of misses heading it's way. I calculated that a standard shipping container could easily hold 16 misses, including a launch tube. There are a lot of navy vessels that aren't "attack" oriented like tankers and who knows what else. I'd imagine they could have a few containers of these on deck or below (until needed) and then launch them. Since they are a flagged US navy vessel, they aren't breaking maritime law like using a merchant cargo ship to carry out an attack. Of course, a destroyer or some of the new Littoral class ships might also make use of this. I know most ships have missile tubes but those that don't I'd bet could be outfitted in a manner where they could carry a payload such as this.
As for the statement about the "glide bombs", I'm wondering how that works and also how the s400/500 picks up signatures of misses and bombs. Do they detect heat from the misses engine? It looks like those have a range of 45 miles, which seems really far for a "glide bomb". I'm wondering if they use some chemical reaction that doesn't produce heat (or is masked by intake of ambient air mixing with exhaust). If the defense systems use heat and not motion/radar (which I kind of doubt), I would think something like compressed air could help get that kind of distance from their flight ceiling. Maybe they use the same stuff we did in science class to make volcano's - baking soda and vinegar to make the gas, lol /sarc
the S400 has 8 launchers and 120 missiles. I'm guessing it'd be possible to create "dud" cruise missles relatively cheaply to be fired in succession to deplete the missile reserves. Missiles are basically flight control, engine/motor, body & explosive, w/o the explosive there's more room for fuel and it can go a greater distance or faster.