The Russian military has deployed the latest S-500 Prometheus surface-to-air missile/anti-ballistic missile systems to the occupied Crimean peninsula to cover important facilities.

Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, reported this.

“The air defense system is being strengthened. S-500 elements have appeared. This will be their trial use. But they have already appeared there,” Budanov said.

He outlined this during a conversation with journalists about the Russian Federation’s attempts to protect critical facilities in Crimea and the peninsula’s logistics connection with the Russian mainland from missile attacks.

The S-500 Prometheus is Russia’s most advanced long-range anti-aircraft system, designed to complement the existing S-400 systems and provide a new level of missile defense.

The first and only anti-aircraft system of this type was transferred to the Russian military in October 2021. It was then put on combat duty, covering Moscow and the region.

The Head of the intelligence agency noted that only certain elements of the system have now been deployed to the occupied peninsula, which may indicate that it is being used in an incomplete configuration.

It is reported that the conceptual development of the S-500 system was based on the separation of air and missile defense tasks, which resulted in the creation of a single system with separate air and missile defense units with their own command posts, radars, launchers, and ammunition.

The system’s anti-aircraft component continues to use 40N6 anti-aircraft missiles from the S-400 air defense system, so their introduction will not radically change the situation. At the same time, the anti-missile part of the S-500 can cover the revealed low ability of Russian systems to intercept ballistic missiles, in particular, ATACMS.

The Prometheus system’s main feature is the 77N6-N surface-to-air missiles. They are equipped with a homing system based on their own onboard active electronically scanned array radar.

Russian officials have stated that the long-range missiles will be able to intercept objects at a distance of up to 600 kilometers and an altitude of up to 200 kilometers. This includes both ballistic and hypersonic targets at speeds of up to 7 km/s.

The declared parameters should allow the system to shoot down not only short-range air defense such as ATACMS but also to intercept medium-range missiles.