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Russian Warship Tests Missile Defense Capability

20 September 2012 21:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.The flagship of Russiaâ€™s Northern Fleet, nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, has carried out missile defense drills during the current patrol-and-training mission in the Arctic, Izvestia newspaper said on Thursday, APA reports quoting RÄ°A Novosti.

Pyotr Veliky is the only Russian warship with sufficient capability to thwart massive attacks by cruise and ballistic missiles.

â€œDuring the current mission on the Northern Sea Route along Russiaâ€™s Arctic coast, Pyotr Veliky conducted tests of its missile defense capability as part of the sea-based segment of the national missile defense shield,â€ Izvestia cited a defense ministry source.

â€œThe missile defense drills in the Arctic are very important because they cover the trajectories of potential strikes by land-based U.S. ballistic missiles,â€ the source said.

Pyotr Veliky is armed with 48 S-300F Fort and 46 S-300FM Fort-M (SA-N-20 Gargoyle) medium-range surface-to-air missiles (with effective range of up to 200 kilometers), 128 3K95 Kinzhal (SA-N-9 Gauntlet) short-range SAMs, and six CADS-N-1 Kashtan gun/missile systems.

Its radars are capable of detecting and tracking aerial targets at an altitude of 30 km and a range of 300 km.

As part of the plan to develop the sea-based segment of national missile defense network, the Russian military intends to overhaul and reactivate three mothballed Kirov class nuclear-powered missile cruisers by 2020.