S-400 systems. FILE IMAGE: Alexey Malgavko / Sputnik
Russia has converted as many as 17 launchers from its S-400 air defense system to fire ballistic missiles at targets in Ukraine, Ukrainian military intelligence claimed on August 26.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, known as the DIU, said the Russian military is operating five special missile units, based in Russia’s Bryansk and Rostov regions, equipped with the converted launchers.
“The total number of converted launchers of this air defense system that the enemy can use to conduct strikes is up to 17,” the intelligence agency said in a statement responding to a request from the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
The launchers are being used to fire the RM-48U, a ballistic missile developed from the 48N6 family of long-range missiles originally designed for the S-400 system, according to the DIU. The missiles carry high-explosive fragmentation warheads weighing 150 to 180 kilograms, and are claimed to have a range of up to 120 to 200 kilometers.
Ukrainian officials said the first confirmed use of the RM-48U came on the night of January 20, and the missile has since been fired in combined strikes on Ukraine.
The DIU reported a sharp rise in the missile’s use recently. Russia fired about 15 RM-48U missiles per month from January through June but launched 46 of them in just the first 20 days of July, the agency said. It linked the increase to an expansion of Russian ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv.
The officials said Russia’s push to rely more heavily on the RM-48U is driven by cost. The missile is cheaper to produce than the Iskander-M, another ballistic missile Russia has used extensively against Ukraine, and Moscow holds a stockpile of roughly 400 RM-48U units, according to the DIU.
The agency said Russian defense manufacturers are currently able to both build new S-400 launchers and upgrade existing ones for missile strikes. It further claimed that Moscow is planning to produce more than 480 RM-48U missiles this year.
Since the start of the Russian special military operation, Ukraine has repeatedly claimed to have been targeted with missiles from S-400 and older S-300 systems converted to ballistic missiles. Moscow has so far not confirmed these claims. Furthermore, the very existence of the RM-48U remains a matter of debate, with the only source cited on it being Ukrainian intelligence.
The latest claim came as Ukraine is facing a serious shortage of air defenses. Kyiv has been focused on promoting the threat posed by Russian ballistic missiles to solicit more support from its Western backers, in particular expensive and scarce interceptors for American-made Patriot air defense systems.
The whole plot involving the alleged RM-48U and the converted S-400 launchers may just be a Ukrainian propaganda stunt as there is no physical evidence for any of these claims.
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this is pure desperation coming from russia and a bad military doctrine which states that this war can be won via air strikes. as long as ukraine is able to maintain the front line russia can launch as many missiles as it likes they will not break ukrainian resolve
good grief, go home with your silly analysis. this site ain’t joe blow from kokomo tuning into cnn, bud.
i say what i want just like anyone posting on this site. who are you to tell me what to do?
you’re quite right. everybody has a god given, democratic right to talk utter bolloc**. and you seem determined to exercise that right to the full.
notice how bubba does what every other ukrainian shill does, takes what ukraine does and attributes it to russia.
it’s ukraine that’s trying to win a war strictly with air strikes (on civilians no less) because it’s collapsing on the ground, bubba.
somebody has to. you’re either a shill or a dill. not quite mr. 1488 but hanging in there, nevertheless.
yes, i’m sure vlad is desperate when he sees the ukies begging for a ceasefire, conscripting women, trying to recruit more colombian mercenary cannon fodder for forty per cent of their army. i’m really, really, really sure that vlad is desperate. honest.
its not desperation these systems can be pretty easily produced and are likely less useful in the 400s role then as long range rocket launchers. the ukranians are not using jets but drones to carry out strikes trying to shoot down a swarm of quad copters dousnt really work with s400. its like trying to swat a fly with a big cannon
not really effective. you need more precision and small target hiting equipment and jammimg to take them down.
wow! the globalist puppets of concentration camp ukraine may exist to prove there is no limit to human stupidity. is this a ratclifff cia plan ?
oooh, zelensky. drooling over those s-400’s are you know?
oops. i thought i was in the know but now i know i’m knot. lol
ukraine is using s-300 and patriot missiles to kill its own civilians since 2022.
this hole bullshit claims about russian modifications is just because ukrops want to blame their own selfmurders on russia.
lots of fine, upstanding ukrainians in the world but the current lot in kyiv are the scum of the earth.
total bollo***. just more ukie bollo***, like russian troops eating one another because they’ve run out of food. or putin dying and being replaced by a body double. using a state of the art air defence missile like the s400 in this way would be a complete waste of a valuable air defence missile.
they dont eat eachother. but ngos are brutal they beat men who legitimately complained about fuel shortage and not getting ammunition and equipment being send into drone meat grinders.
some who advanced and took some ground got beaten for rushing
i have seen enough videos that i can say russian leadership destroys their own troops morale if you have such animals in charge who beat their own men. cut off fingers etc. there is zero learning curve or adaption on that ngo level.
a big problem is russian leadership is chosen for loyalty or corruption protecting some oilicharchs rather then quality and results or initiative being able to adapt and improve. and this is often holding them back. prigozhin legitimately complained about it and it got him taken out by putin.
alot of battles costed way more men then when otherwise would have been lost if you had more room to improvize and initiative rather then. being punished for it
wtf? what a bs, why would they convert very expensive s-300 to hit ground targets? that’s a bs. it is like i’m converting a porsche to mazda.
for lack of spare parts soon, you might have to convert that porsche to a lawn chair.
and i hear that you shit in yo kitchen too.
nah, i just gave up waiting for a continental timing belt that’d been on backorder for 3 months. german industry is coming apart at the seams.
pro russian sources have claimed the use of s300 for ground attacks multiple times. i was baffled to hear it. as long as missiles or drones are hitting anything to use defence weapons for attacks is a strange descisions and priorities.
obsolete s300 missiles are being used to deplete ukrainian ad.
why would they do this? they have the iskander and according to ukraine intel, they started the war with 6.5k missiles and have a little over 8k now, more than when they started, even though they are being used. the s400 would be far more urgently required to stop the drones etc. which have been hitting wildberries and oil depots. it is a stupid story
s400 is not effective against drones and quad copters but more effective against jets and long range missiles. its like using a great bombard vs some leaves of grass you wont hit them.
lasers and other precision weapons and high rate of fire anti aircraft guns are more effective against drones. but those are still experimental
even older weapons such as the shilka are suddenly more useful if they have upgraded electronics. you need more modern targeting and fire controls to hit drones.
the cocaine cowboy will say anything to secure more funding. ferrari’s, villa’s, condo’s, and drug habits, all need a service. he sells panic like a second hand car salesman.
we say pre-owned, not second hand… much like ukraine was once owned by the nazis and now is being peddled as a pre-owned nazi state almost as good as the original.
ukraine claims a lot of things, too bad its claims are nothing but fool’s gold,