Almaz-Antey 40R6 / S-400 Triumf Самоходный Зенитный Ракетный Комплекс 40Р6 (2024)

The Almaz S-400 Triumf or SA-21system is the most recent evolution of the S-300P family of SAMsystems, initially trialled in 1999.The label S-400 is essentially marketing, since the system waspreviously reported under the speculative label of S-300PMU3. At leastone report claims that funding for the development of the Triumf wasprovided in part by the PLA. The principal distinctionsbetween the S-400 and its predecessor lie in further refinements to theradars and software, and the addition of four new missile types inaddition to the legacy 48N6E/48N6E2 used in the S-300PMU2 Favorit.

As aresult an S-400 battery could bearmed with arbitrary mixes of these weapons to optimise its capabilityfor a specific threat environment. The 30N6E2 further evolved into themore capable 92N6E GraveStone, carried by a new 8 x 8 MZKT-7930 vehicle. The additional rangerequired a significantly uprated transmitter tube to provide the higherpower-aperture performance needed, in additional to an improved exciterand automatic frequency hopping capability. The 96L6is offered as an 'all altitude' battery acquisition radar, also carriedby a 8 x 8 MZKT-7930 vehicle. A new 3D phased array acquisition radarisemployed, the 91N6E derived from the 64N6E2, and the 40V6M/MD mast isan available option. The 55K6E command post isemployed, carried by an 8 x 8 Ural 532361 truck.

Optional acquisition radars cited for the S-400 include the 59N6Protivnik GE and 67N6 Gamma DEin the L-band, but also the 1L119Nebo SVU in the VHF band, and the multiband Nebo M.The Nebo SVU/M have a claimed capability against stealth aircraft. Inaddition to further acquisition radar types, the S-400 has beentrialledwith the Topaz Kolchuga M,KRTP-91 Tamara / Trash Can, and 85V6 Orion / Vega emitterlocatingsystems, the aim being to engage emitting targets withoutemitting from the acquisition radars, or if the acquisition radars havebeen jammed. In June, 2008, the manufacturer disclosed the integrationof the 1RL220VE, 1L222 and 86V6 Orion emitter locatingsystems with the S-400.

TEL options include thebaseline 5P85TE2semitrailer, towed by a 6 x 6 BAZ-64022, the improved 5P90Sself-propelled TEL hosted on the BAZ-6909-022 andintended to carry a heavier missile payload than the legacy MAZ-79100series TELs, and a new heavyweight towed TEL to be designated the5P90TMU.

Imagery of the 5P90Sself-propelled TEL shows a new gantry design, a new elevating foldingmast with a directional antenna, and a state-of-the-art NK Orientir precisionnavigation system, with an increased baseline for the satnavantennas, compared to the installation on the S-300PMU2 vehicles.

Long term planning is to host all S-400 battery components onBAZ Voschina series vehicles, with the 92N6 Grave Stone and 96L6-1carried on the 10 x 10 BAZ-69096 chassis, and a new BAZ-6403.01 8 x 8tractor isto be used to tow the 91N6 Big Bird battle management radar, and40V6M/Tseries mobile mast systems. The 55K6E battery command post will behosted on the BAZ-69092-012 6 x 6 chassis, a flatbed variant of whichwill be used to tow the 63T6A power converter and 5I57A powergenerator. The 8 x 8 BAZ-69096 chassis is alsointended for future use in the 96K6 Pantsir S1 / SA-22 SPAAGM.

S-400 DesignPhilosophy and Implementation

The most detailed technical paper to date covering the S-400 wasproduced by Dr Alexander Lemanskiy, Chief Engineer on the S-400,Igor Ashurbeili, General Director, and Nikolai Nenartovich, ChiefEngineer, of Almaz-Antey, published in the Russian language Vozdushno-Kosmicheskaya Oboronajournal, No.3 (40), 20081. Unfortunately itlacks the detail of later Almaz-Antey disclosures on the S-300PMU2Favorit, but does provide a good discussion of the rationale behind theS-400 design design, and its key design features.

Lemanskiy et al state that definition of the S-400 design was performedjointly by the designers and the Russian MoD, with specific capabilityfoci in:

• Defeating threats at low and very low flight altitudes;
• Dealing with the overall reduction of target signaturesresulting from the pervasive use of stealth technology;
• Dealing with the increase in target quantities resultingfrom the widspread use of UAVs;
• Applying all means to defeat advanced jammers employed byopponents;
• Surviving in an environment where PGMs are used widely;
• Accommodating an environment where an increasing number ofnations are deploying TBMs and IRBMs.
  

Lemanskiy et al observed that several key imperatives were followedduring the design process:

• An open system architecture with a high level ofmodularity, intended to permit follow-on capability growth in thedesign;
• Multirole capabilities and the capacity for integrationwith legacy IADS technologies;
• Suitability for the air defence of fixed infrastructuretargets, as well as manoeuvre forces;
• Suitability for integration with naval surface combatants;
• The ability to exploit legacy missile rounds already inoperational use;
• High operational mobility and deployability;
• High lethality and jam resistance;

There imperatives were applied to the design of configurations for theRussian Armed Forces and for export clients.

Export variants of the S-400 Triumf are intended to destroy opposingstand-off jammer aircraft, AWACS/AEW&C aircraft, reconnaissance andarmed reconnaissance aircraft, cruise missile armed strategic bombers,cruise missiles, Tactical, Theatre and Intermediate Range BallisticMissiles, and any other atmospheric threats, all in an intensiveElectronic Counter Measures environment.

Lemanskiy et al describe the system composition as four core components:

1. The 30K6E battle management system, comprising the 55K6ECommand Post and 91N6E Big Bird acquisition radar;
2. Up to six 98Zh6E Fire Units, each comprising a 92N6E GraveStone “multimode” engagement radar, up to twelve 5P85SE2 / 5P85TE2TELs, each TEL armed with up to four 48N6E2/E3 missiles;
3. A complement of SAM rounds, comprising arbitrary mixes ofthe 48N6E, 48N6E2 and 48N6E3;
4. The 30Ts6E logistical support system, comprising missilestorage, test and maintenance equipments.

All system components are carried by self-propelled wheeled all-terrainchassis, and have autonomous power supplies, navigation andgeo-location systems, communications and life support equipment. Mainspower grid converters are installed for fixed site operations.

The design permits all equipment vans to be separated from the vehiclechassis for installation and operation in hardened shelters.

S-400 SystemIntegration

The communications and networking systems are designed with interfacesfor operation over radio-frequency, and landline links, includinganalogue telephone cables. The 98Zh6E Fire Units can be located up to100 km from the 55K6E Command Post. The 91N6E Grave Stone can beinstalled on the 40V6MR mobile mast system for operation in complex orheavily forested terrain.

The 30K6E battle management system exploits much of the potential in afully digital system, and can control:

• S-300PMU1 / SA-20A and S-300PMU2 / SA-20B fire unitsdirectly;
• S-300PMU1 / SA-20A and S-300PMU2 / SA-20B fire units viathe respective 83M6E2 and 83M6E1 battle management systems;
• 9K330/331 Tor / Tor M/M1/M2E / SA-15 point defence SAMs viathe Ranzhir-M ADCP;
• 96K6 Pantsir S1 SPAAGM via the lead battery vehicle orbattery ADCP where used.

Interfaces and software are also provided to permit data stream feedsor exchanges with:

• Redundant 91N6E Big Bird acquisition and battle managementradars;
• 96L6E acquisition radars;
• 67N6 Gamma DE acquisition radars;
• 59N6 Protivnik GE acquisition radars;
• 83M6E2 and 83M6E1 battle management systems;
• 9S52M1 Polyana D4M1 Command Posts;
• 73N6 Baikal E Command Posts;
  
• Other 30K6E systems;
• Other Russian ADCP designs.
  

In addition software development was under way to provide thecapability to network pairs of 30K6E battle management systems.For export clientele, Almaz-Antey offer integration with arbitrary newor legacy non-Russian IADS components.

55K6E CommandPost

An S-400 55K6 CommandPost withdeployed antenna mast. This design is visually indistinguishable fromthe S-300PMU2 54K6E2 Command Post (image © MiroslavGyűrösi).

The 55K6E is employed to control all components in the group ofbatteries, and can collect and present status information from allcomponents. It can also control the operating modes of the 91N6E BigBird acquisition and battle management radar, including its IFF/SSRfunctions. Acomprehensive C3 /datalink package is installed, and an Elbrus-90 mikrocentral processor is used to execute the dataprocessing and systemmanagement code. Sharing hardware with the S-300PMU2 54K6E 2 CP, the55K6E uses 18 inch LCD panels for all crew stations.

Five common consoles are installed, with unique software drivenpresentation for the five person crew of the CP, the latter comprising:

• 1 x Air Defence Unit Commander
• 1 x Air Situation Management Officer
• 2 x Fire Control Officers
• 1 x Engineering Officer

While Lemanskiy et al did not detail the 55K6E any further, the highlevel of commonality suggests that more recent Almaz-Antey disclosureson the 54K6E2 CPalso apply to the 55K6E2.

91N6E Big BirdAcquisition and Battle Management Radar

The design changes to the 91N6E were not detailed by Lemanskiy et al,other than to disclose its intended ABM acquisition role. The radar istasked with acquiring and tracking aerial and ballistic targets,identifying targets, and performing angle measurements on standoffjamming aircraft.

The 91N6E is a Janus-faced symmetrical transmissive space fed passivephased array, with a range of conventional circular scan modes, and anumber of fixed sector scan modes, using electronic beam steering inelevation and azimuth. In the latter modes, the antenna boresight canbe mechanically tilted upward to extend achievable electronicbeamsteering elevation coverage. The radar is a pulse-to-pulse agilefrequency hopper, to maximise countermeasures resistance. Unique highduty cycle transmit waveforms are available for fixed sectorelectronically beamsteered search modes.

98Zh6E Fire Unit

The individual fire units in the battery are designated the 98Zh6E, andcomprise a single 92N6E Grave Stone multirole engagement radar and agroup of subordinate TELs.

92N6E GraveStone Multimode Engagement Radar

The 92N6 Grave Stonemultimodeengagement radar is a significant redesign of the Flap Lid / Tomb Stoneseries with fully digital processing and increased power-apertureperformance (image © MiroslavGyűrösi).

The 92N6E departs from the specialised engagement and fire controlfunctionality of earlier radars in the Flap Lid family, exploitingabundant computing power no differently than Western AESAs. It isintended to provide autonomous manual and automatic sector searchs,target acquisition and tracking, in adverse weather, Electronic CounterMeasures, chaff and low altitude clutter environments. The radar isequipped with an IFF capability.

The 92N6E Grave Stone will automatically prioritise targets, computeLaunch Acceptable Regions for missile launches, launch missiles,capture missiles, and provide midcourse guidance commands to missileswhile tracking the target and missile. Missile guidance modes includepure command link, semi-active homing, and Track via Missile (TVM) /Seeker Aided Ground Guidance (SAGG), where missile semi-active seekeroutputs are downlinked to the Grave Stone to support the computation ofmissile uplink steering commands.

The radar can track 100 targets in Track While Scan mode, and performprecision tracking of six targets concurrently for missile engagements.data exchanges between the 92N6E Grave Stone and 30K6E battlemanagement system are fully automatic.

The 92N6E Grave Stone data processing subsystem is designed around theElbrus-90 mikro SPARC multiprocessor system, like the S-300PMU2 30N6E2Tomb Stone variant. Computing power is exploited to support a diverserange of modes and waveforms. These including:

• Sniffing waveforms at varying power levels to establish thepresence of interfering emitters at a given angle and frequency;
• Adaptive beam control reflecting immediate operationalconditions;
• Variable PRFs and scan rates for missile and targettracking;
• Defeat of high power active noise jammers by the use of“radical measures” in the design.

New Electronic Counter Counter Measures technology was employed in thedesign of the 92N6E Grave Stone, but was neither described nor named.

Lemanskiy et al described the 48N6E3 missile in some detail, but didnot include any disclosures beyond what is already public knowledge.

The authors did state that increased radar power-aperture productperformance in both the 92N6E Grave Stone and 91N6E Big Bird increasesthe capability of the S-400 Triumf to engage low signature or stealthtargets, but their cryptic claim of 50 percent of the engagement rangeremains difficult to interpret.

What is evident is that the fully digital S-400 Triumf displaysmost if not all of the typical capability gains seen in thelatest generation of fully digital systems of Western design.

The smaller size of theseweapons permits four to be loaded into the volume of a single48N6E/5V55K/R launch tube container - a form fit four tube launchercontainer is used. A single 5P85S/T TEL can thus deploy up to 16 ofthese missiles, or mixes of 3 x 48N6 / 4 x 9M96E/E2, 2 x 48N6 / 8 x9M96E/E2 or 1 x 48N6 / 12 x 9M96E/E2. The stated aim of this approachwas to permit repeated launches against saturation attacks withprecision guided munitions - in effect trading 9M96 rounds for incomingguided weapons. Fakel claim a single shot kill probability of 70%against a Harpoon class missile, and 90% against a manned aircraft.

The addition of the 9M96E/E2 missiles, which amount to a combined ABMand point defence weapon designs, is part of a broader Russian strategyof deploying air defence weapons capable of defeating PGM attacks,including the AGM-88 HARM family, and follow-on defence suppressionweapons, the latter types intended to disable the S-400 batteryacquisition and engagement radars. The advantage in using the 9M96E/E2for this purpose is that it avoids the additional technical andoperational complexity of directing other “counter-PGM” point defenceweapons such as the Tor M1/M2,Tunguska M and Pantsir S/S1 series.

Some sources have credited the9M96E/9M96E2 missiles to the S-300PMU1and S-300PMU2 Favorit, which appears to have been the demonstrationplatform for prototypes of these missiles. Integration of thesemissiles on either of these systems will not present any challenges,due to backward compatibility in TELs and the use of a datalinksupported active radar terminal seeker. Todate there have been no disclosures on domestic production or exportsales of the 9M96 series. Russia media reports in 2010 indicated thatproduction may soon commence for use on S-400 systems, using anew four chamber launcher/container design with an identical formfactor to the standard 48N6 design.

S-400 5P85SE demonstrator TEL with quad 9M96E launchtubes. This design may be replaced in production with a four chamberdesign in the same form factor as the 48N6 launch tube (image ©Miroslav Gyűrösi).

S-400 and Legacy Surface to Air MissileSystem Hybridisation

Some sources also credit the S-400 with the capability firstdemonstrated in the S-300PMU2 Favorit, of controlling S-200/SA-5Gammon batteries and directing the 5N62VESquare Pair FMCW guidance andillumination radar. Given that the Russian S-200 inventory and missilewarstock has been decommissioned and exported, if this capability isretained, it is for export clientele.

If software and datalink modems are supplied in production S-400systems to support the S-200 / SA-5, this raises the question ofpotential hybridisation with otherlegacy SAM types. With most potential export clientele alreadyoperating legacy SAM systems such as the S-75M/SA-2 Guideline,S-125/SA-3 Goa and 3M9/9M9/SA-6 Gainful, this could prove to be anattractive marketing tool. The model claimed for the S-200/SA-5 wouldlikely be applied, using the SNR-75 Fan Song, SNR-125 Low Blow or 1S91Straight Flush to guide the missiles to an aimpoint produced by the92N6E Grave Stone tracking the target, and in the latter instance,provide terminal phase illumination. The key issue of reconcilinglocation errors between the various system components can be addressedby satellite navigation, with dual mode GPS/Glonass receivers alreadywidely used in Russian equipment. The use of the NK Orientir precisiongeolocation and angular alignment system in the S-300PMU2 and S-400presents a good example.

The 2008 VKO paper by Lemanskiy et al of Almaz-Antey described thecapability to control a range of S-300P variant batteries, and othercontemporary IADS elements, but did not elaborate on legacy SAM systemintegration.

Production and Exports, Further Development

The first S-400 battery achieved IOC status during the 2007-2008period, and further batteries were being delivered to Russian PVO unitssince. Russian media reports indicate delays in delivery againstinitially planned schedules, which is not unusual for new designs.

The S-400 is being actively marketed for export. The first exportclient for the S-400 will be Belarus, with reports emerging early in2009 that a delivery of multiple batteries had been negotiated.

Recently claims have emerged in Russia of a follow-on derivative of theS-400 Triumf, designated the 40N6M Triumfator M, including claims thatthe 5P90S and 5P90TMU TELs would be used. To date there havebeen no formal disclosures detailing this variant.