Missile defense systems are intended to safeguard a country against imminent ballistic missile attacks amongst all the missile defense systems in the world today we've picked the two well-known missile defense systems of USA and Russia that are the Thaad and S-400 we all know the s-400 missile system is touted to be a rival to U.S THAADso let's compare both with full specification U.S THAAD stands for terminal high altitude area defense which is an anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short to medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase by intercepting with a hit-to-kill approach the s-400 also known as the SA-21 growler is an anti-aircraft weapon system developed in the 1990s by Russia's alma central design bureau is an upgrade of the s-300 family it has been in service with the Russian armed forces since 2007. both are powerful missile system which are unique in its own way cad operates in a unique battle space in accepting both endo and exo atmospheric short to intermediate range ballistic missiles the thaad interceptor carries no warhead but relies on its kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile while the s-400 carries a direct explosion warhead the s-400 missile system has about eight launchers each of which has four missiles thus if we consider the situation from the point of view of the divisions then the cost of each s 400 is approximately 500 million dollars while the thaad batteries include six launcher vehicles each equipped with eight missiles that purchase cost of 800 million us dollars per battery talking about missile specifications the thaad missile is 6.17 meters in length and is equipped with a single stage solid fuel rocket motor and having a launch weight of 900 kilograms the target object data and the predicted intercept point are downloaded to the missile prior to launch the updated target and intercept data are also transmitted to the missile in flight the russian s-400 primarily uses the 48 and 6 missile series and these missiles allow it to hit long-range aerial targets and are capable of intercepting ballistic missiles across a 60 kilometer radius using in both cases a 143 kilograms high explosive fragmentation warhead the s-400 can also fire the 9M96E and 9M96E-2 having a range of 40 kilometers and 120 kilometers they are advanced surface-to-air missiles designed to engage a wide range of aerodynamics and ballistic targets in the most severe clutter and jamming environments with unprecedented effectiveness the final missile series used by the s-400 is the 40N6 ESAM a long-range family that can extend the air defense capabilities of the system to 400 kilometers and having a flight altitude of up to 185 kilometers the operational range and flight altitude of the thaad missile is only 200 kilometers and 150 kilometers the so-called 40 n6e sam has a maximum target speed of 70 000 kilometers per hour which is 1.7 times more compared to the thaad system. the thaad missile is powered by a single stage solid propellant rocket motor with thrust vectoring the rocket motor is supplied by bretton whitney rocketdyne after burnout the booster is separated from the kill vehicle which continues to the interception point while the s-400 is powered with yaroslav MZ842 4.10 diesel v12 which produces an output of 400 horsepower now coming to guidance system the thaad is guided with indium antimonide imaging infrared seeker head the 40N6 missile of the S-400 missile system on the other hand has active radar homing and is typically used against airborne warning and control system joint surveillance target attack radar system EA6B support jammers and other high value targets so which of these two has a better radar the tag system is provided by the raytheon systems a and tpy2 ground-based radar for surveillance threat classification and threat identification thaad can also be queued by military surveillance satellites such as brilliant ice the radar has the capability to acquire missile threats at ranges of up to 1000 kilometers while the fire control and target tracking radar of the s400 is the 92n6e the radar is based on the MDKT79308 into 8 vehicle the radar can detect and track aircraft rotorcraft cruise missiles guided missiles drones and ballistic rockets within the distance of 600 kilometers it can simultaneously track up to 300 targets as for mobility the thaad launch unit vehicle is a modified oshkosh truck corporation heavy expanded mobility tactical truck with load handling system it is a 12 meter long by 3.2 meter wide while on the launcher lead acid batteries provide the primary power the batteries are recharged with a low noise generator while the trailer system of the s400 triumph is towed by the russian truck 6 into 6 BAZ6402015 but the s-400 can also be mounted to the truck almost 5P90SE or the lms 5P90TMU the s400 trailer can also be towed by the MAZ79100 now let's look at combat experience thaad was originally scheduled for deployment in 2012 but initial deployment took place in may 2008. that had been deployed in guam the united arab emirates israel romania and south korea the s-400 is yet to be tested in battle so there is no record of it having been fired during actual combat the system has been deployed in syria but have not engaged in any targets there have been reports that the s-400 deployment effectively converted the russian operating zone over syria into a no-fly zone some western media reports that u.s led coalition and israeli aircraft avoid the area covered by the s-400 the s-400 triumph can destroy Tomahawk cruise missiles and other types of missiles and can also detect stealth aircraft but how effective is the stealth object's detection capability is not known the s-400 can detect other targets at all altitudes of their combat employment and at maximum ranges this air defense missile system can simultaneously engage 36 targets while the thaad system has maintained a hundred percent success rate over its last 16 intercept tests since the beginning of its production the system used a government-developed remote launcher kit in its 16th attempt in august 2019 for the first time to extend the range of the defendant area both of them are unique its own way.
Good information about S 400
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